Flowing Jaguares roar past Lions

Published Mar 12, 2017

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JOHANNESBURG - For the second year in a row, the Lions have lost to the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.

Coach Johan Ackermann’s decision to rest several first-choice players for Saturday’s third-round Super Rugby match backfired badly as the Jaguares triumphed 36-24, as they did last season.

On that occasion, in the final round-robin fixture, Ackermann rested his entire first-choice side to keep them fresh and healthy for the following week’s quarter-final.

But while they won both the quarter-final and their semi-final, they gave up the chance to finish in top spot overall and had to travel to Wellington to take on the Hurricanes in the final, which they lost.

Ackermann will hope this defeat doesn’t cost his side as well. Not only did they lose, which will affect their momentum, they may also come to rue the points dropped at the end of the campaign.

The Lions, minus the likes of Lionel Mapoe, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Elton Jantjies and Franco Mostert, among others and because of different reasons, were completely outplayed by the Jaguares, who arguably produced their best performance in Super Rugby since joining the competition last year.

They were precise in the set-pieces, they bossed the collisions and breakdowns and they ran hard and fast at the Lions, forcing the visitors into making mistakes and slipping tackles.

The Lions’ discipline also dropped in the face of the non-stop attacking play.

There was much for the Jaguares to cheer about; there was nothing for the Lions to be happy about.

Fullback Joaquin Tuculet was the first to cross the whitewash, the Argentina international finishing off a strong attacking move inside five minutes. Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez’s first penalty a few minutes later put the home team 8-0 up and it was a deserved lead for the Jaguares.

Coach Johan Ackermann opted to rest several first-choice Lions players. Photo: Aubrey Kgakatsi, BackpagePix

But out of nothing, the Lions struck back through captain Warren Whiteley, the No 8 running an excellent line to take a pass and go over almost untouched from close range.

The conversion by young flyhalf Shaun Reynolds closed the gap to just one point, but the Lions wouldn’t get close to scoring again in the half.

The Jaguares dominated the rest of the first 40 minutes, running hard at the Lions, who were asked to make plenty of tackles, while their discipline let them down on a number of occasions, and it was hardly a surprise when Andries Ferreira was binned for a second high tackle.

Before his being sent to the cooler, the Jaguares scored their second try through wing Ramiro Moyano, who finished off in the corner after wave after wave of attacking play, and then two further Sanchez penalties put the home team 21-7 up at the break.

That lead was stretched to 17 points soon after the restart with a further Sanchez penalty, before the Lions gave themselves a sniff of a chance when replacement prop Jacques van Rooyen powered his way over the line.

But then the Lions let centre Jeronimo de la Fuente in for the Jaguares’ third try and soon after that, the game was all but sewn up by the hosts.

First the Lions lost hooker Robbie Coetzee to the bin for a high tackle, and then Sanchez finished off a flowing move in which several of his teammates had handled the ball.

Two late tries by the Lions, by Malcolm Marx and Whiteley, gave the score some respectability, but if truth be told, Ackermann’s men were never in the contest.

They will now hope to regroup and hit back against the Reds this weekend.

Points-Scorers

Jaguares – Tries: Joaquin Tuculet, Ramiro Moyano, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Nicolas Sanchez. Conversions: Sanchez (2). Penalties: Sanchez (4).

Lions – Tries: Warren Whiteley (2), Jacques van Rooyen, Malcolm Marx. Conversions: Shaun Reynolds (1), Jaco van der Walt (1).

@jacq_west

IOL

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