Blues edge Jaguares in scrappy arm-wrestle

The match was a real mixed bag – the occasional moment of magic, some enterprise, but mostly a scrappy fair that turned spiteful in the end.

The Blues outscored the visitors from Argentina by two tries to one, but will know that they have plenty to work on – given the Jaguares fielded mainly fringe players in the first outing on their three-match New Zealand tour.

A yellow card to Tevita Li provided the wake-up call the Blues needed.

In a game that seldom reached great heights, missed tackles and lost possession were the order of the day with only occasional patches of quality as Tana Umaga's Blues snared their second win of the season.

For the Jaguares it was their fourth consecutive defeat since winning their opening game against the Cheetahs, and a late Ihaia West penalty denied them even a bonus point for a narrow loss.

The Argentinean side made nine changes for the game and omitted a host of senior players, including captain Agustin Creevy.

But it was the Blues who were the most disorganised in the opening exchanges which saw the Jaguares up 6-0 midway through the first half from two penalties by Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias.

The Blues continued to do their best to aid the Jaguares when a Lolagi Visinia clearing kick hit teammate Steven Luatua and rebounded over the deadball line.

At the other end of the field, a Luatua pass went behind James Parsons who had an open run to the try-line five metres away.

But after the second penalty for the Jaguares when Li was yellow carded for repeatedly being offside, the Blues started to cut their error rate and put a bit of structure into their game.

"It wasn't pretty," captain Parsons acknowledged, noting the Blues were in trouble early on.

"We reacted well to it, stayed positive then when we got a chance to keep it down here we did."

In the closing 10 minutes of the first half the Blues chalked up 15 points with tries to Luatua and West, with West adding a conversion and penalty.

West's try was the result of a long-range counter-attack and an astute break by Rene Ranger following a misdirected Jaguares clearing kick.

A penalty to Iglesias and two more to West saw the Blues leading 21-9 with 20 minutes remaining before a Gonzalo Bertranou try converted by Nicolas Sanchez cut the margin to five points.

But their hopes of a late comeback were thwarted by West's fourth penalty, which ensured the win for the Blues.

However, scrumhalf Martin Landajo, standing in for Creevy as captain, said despite being on the losing side, his tournament newcomers relished the experience gained from the match

"This is new for us, first tournament here. We are enjoying it, we are learning every match. We enjoy playing with the best teams in the world so we are having fun."

Man of the match: Lock Tomás Lavanini epitomised the Jaguares' effort – resilient on defence, but lacking the subtleties that will make them a special team. Ihaia West was the magic man for the Blues, as displayed in his try, but our award goes to Blues No.8 Steven Luatua, who not only scored a try, but produced an all-round effort that had All Black written all over it.

The scorers:

For the Blues:

Tries: Luatua, West

Cons: West

Pens: West 4

For the Jaguares:

Tries: Bertranou

Cons: Sanchez

Pens: Iglesias 3

Yellow card: Tevita Lee (Blues, 22 – repeated infringements, slowing down the ball)

Teams:

Blues: 15 Lolagi Visinia, 14 Rieko Ioane, 13 Rene Ranger, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Joe Edwards, 5 Josh Bekhuis, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons (captain), 1 Nic Mayhew.

Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Hoani Matenga, 20 Akira Ioane, 21 Billy Guyton, 22 Matt McGahan, 23 George Moala.

Jaguares: 15 Ramiro Moyano, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Santiago González Iglesias, 9 Martín Landajo (captain), 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Rodrigo Báez, 6 Tomás Lezana, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 Roberto Tejerizo.

Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Juan Cruz Guillemaín, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Joaquín Paz.

Referee: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)

TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)