Hurricanes upset Jaguares in Buenos Aires
SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Hurricanes produced a fantastic come-from-behind effort to beat the Jaguares 26-23 in a pulsating encounter in Buenos Aires.
Trailing by 11 points with less than 10 minutes to go, the ‘Canes delivered a grandstand finish with two late tries to snatch victory at the death.
The match started with an amazing effort from Jordie Barrett. Playing in his 50th Super Rugby game, the ‘Canes fullback nailed a fantastic 63-metre penalty kick to give his side the early lead.
The Jaguares drew level 10 minutes later after winning a penalty at the ruck, with flyhalf Domingo Miotti nailing one from a hefty 41 metres out.
The Hurricanes thought they had scored the first try through Billy Proctor shortly after, only for the five-pointer to be disallowed by the TMO, who spotted Gareth Evans obstructing Matias Moroni in the build-up.
Instead, it was the home side who took the lead courtesy of an awesome attacking move that started with a burst up the ‘Canes 22 from Moroni and ended with Emiliano Boffelli running on the angle and offloading to Marcos Kremer for the try.
Barrett kept the visitors within range with his second penalty not long after, and after some good play from the Hurricanes in the final 10 minutes the fullback nailed another shot from distance as it finished 10-9 to the Jaguares at half-time.
While Miotti had missed a chance to add three more points from the penalty spot just before the break, he made no mistake from right in front shortly after the restart.
A few minutes later, the reliable boot of Barrett once again made it a one-point ball game after a powerful scrum from the forwards had earned the ‘Canes a penalty.
The Jaguares soon restored their four-point advantage after Isaia Walker-Leawere was penalised for a late tackle, and would have gone even further in front had Barrett not made a last-ditch tackle to drag Boffelli’s foot into touch.
They continued to pile on the pressure, however, and were finally rewarded when Agustin Creevy scored after a powerful driving maul took him over the line.
The Hurricanes refused to lie down and were back in the match nine minutes from time when a brilliant break from captain TJ Perenara set up an attacking scrum five metres from the Jaguares line and young prop Alex Fidow took a quick-tap to power over the line.
Barrett kicked the conversion to make it 23-19 to the Jaguares, but there was more to come from the visitors.
With time running out, replacement scrumhalf Jamie Booth collected a fantastic pass from All Black centre Ngani Laumape to go over for the match-winning try, with Fletcher Smith adding the extras.
From there, the ‘Canes stood firm, running down the clock and hoofing the ball into touch to seal a memorable win.
The scorers:
For Hurricanes:
Tries: Fidow, Booth
Cons: Garden-Bachop, Smith
Pens: Barrett 4
For Jaguares:
Tries: Kremer, Creevy
Cons: Miotti 2
Pens: Miotti 3
Teams:
Jaguares: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente (captain), 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Tomas Cubelli (captain), 8 Rodrigo Buni, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Javier Ortega Desio, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Santiago Chocobares.
Hurricanes: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 9 Thomas Perenara (captain), 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Reed Prinsep, 5 Scott Scrafton, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Fraser Armstrong.
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Tevita Mafileo, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20 Vaea Fifita, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Fletcher Smith, 23 Vince Aso.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Pablo Deluca (Argentina), Martin Cordoba (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
Source: @SuperRugby
