Jaguares down Blues in New Zealand
The Argentinians' win is their first Super Rugby victory on New Zealand soil.
In atrocious weather conditions favoured the travellers who outscored the Blues three tries to two.
The result, which is the Jaguares' third successive one on their Australasian tour, means the Jaguares move into the second position on the South African Conference table.
While the Blues are firmly rooted at the bottom of the New Zealand Conference table.
After just 13 minutes of play, the Blues found themselves on the backfoot when Akira Ioane was yellow carded for collapsing a Jaguares' maul close to his try-line.
With 14 men on the field, the Jaguares took full advantage and scored first with an Agustin Creevy try.
The Blues replied with tries to Tumua Manu and Matt Duffie, with a penalty by Stephen Perofeta to lead 13-5 at the end of an extended first half.
It continued for an extra seven minutes as the Jaguares took repeated scrums from five consecutive penalties on the Blues line but they were unable to score and the referee saw no need for another yellow card nor a penalty try.
The Argentinians stepped up the pressure as they demolished the Blues pack in the second half and were rewarded with tries to Emiliano Boffelli and Tomas Lezana with a conversion and penalty by Nicolas Sanchez.
The win moved the Jaguares into the top eight to the delight of captain Joaquin Tuculet.
"We are very happy," he said.
"In the second half we played very well and we won the game. The forwards, their work was amazing and the scrum and lineout, so our win is for them."
Man of the match: Jaguares flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez's awareness in the rain, particularly considering the weather conditions, added value to the side. However for inspiring the pack not only in defence but on attack as well, our nod goes to Jaguares hooker Agustin Creevy.
The scorers:
For Blues:
Tries: Manu, Duffie
Pen: Perofeta
For Jaguares:
Tries: Creevy, Boffelli, Lezana
Con: Sanchez
Pen: Sanchez
Yellow card: Akira Ioane (Blues, 12 – Collapsing the maul)
Teams:
Blues: 15 Matt Duffie, 14 Jordan Hyland, 13 Orbyn Leger, 12 Rieko Ioane, 11 Tumua Manu, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Jonathan Ruru, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Kara Pryor, 6 Jimmy Tupou, 5 Josh Goodhue, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Sione Mafileo, 2 James Parsons (captain), 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Leni Apisai, 17 Ross Wright, 18 Mike Tamoaieta, 19 Ben Nee Nee, 20 Lyndon Dunshea, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 23 Terrence Hepetema.
Jaguares: 15 Joaquin Tuculet (captain), 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Javier Ortega Desio, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizaval, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Santiago Garcia Botta.
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Javier Manuel Diaz, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Tomas Lavanini, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Bautista Ezcurra, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere.
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Cam Stone (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Agence France-Presse
