Jaguares maul hapless cubs

Following their 14-29 loss to the Stormers last week, the Argentinean newcomers to Super Rugby showed the class that 20-odd internationals can bring to a team – running the Lions ragged – outscoring them by seen tries to four at the Wits Stadium.

Some sublime inter-passing and grand angled running by the visitors that expose some major flaws in the Lions' defensive set-up.

The Lions – consisting mainly of their back-up squad –  played decent only in patches.

Their frontline selections were rested before they start their Super Rugby campaign with a historic match against Japan's newcomers, the Sunwolves, in Tokyo next week.

It was a litany of handling errors that mostly cost the Lions and as the game wore on the home side also lost their discipline, got lured into a scrap and this resulted in a few scuffles that detracted from the game what was mostly an entertaining affair.

The Lions were penalised heavily, especially at the tackle and breakdown, while their handling constantly let them down at crucial stages.

The home team did well to contain powerful Argentinian maul and their scrum mostly also stood up well to the powerhouse pack of the Jaguares.

The first quarter belonged entirely to the visitors, as they raced into a 21-7 lead.

It came as no surprise when wing Emiliano Boffelli opened the scoring after a host of phases and Nicolas Sanchez made it 7-0 with the conversion.

The Lions bounced straight back and a powerful surge by the forwards saw prop Corne Fourie barge over – Marnitz Boshoff's conversion levelling the scores up.

However, the produced another great inter-passing try, this time Santiago Cordero going over – Sánchez making it 14-7 to the visitors.

This was followed soon afterwards by an intercept try from Jeronimo de la Fuente – Sánchez making it 21-7 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter the Lions looked like they were coping much better with the Argentinian team's runners and strong forward bursts, but still made far too many handling errors.

It was off one of those handling errors that the Jaguares launched a raid that resulted in De la Fuente scoring his second try and gave the visitors a 28-7 lead at half-time.

Ingresó Bertranou heaped further misery on the home team's fans as he rounded off yet another sweeping move by the Jaguares early in the second half. Sánchez made it 35-7 with the conversion.

The South American outfit now started to run riot and De la Fuente soon completed hit hat-trick, as the Lions now added some sloppy defence to their already high error count. Sanchez added the extras and it was 42-7.

The Lions finally showed some bite and great interplay resulted in Harold Vorster, back after six months on the sidelines with a knee injury, going over. Boshoff's conversion made it 14-42.

Flank Javier Ortega Desio then got his marching orders, after failing to retreat 10 metres and tackled a player attempting a quick tap from a penalty.

However, what started as handbags-at-10-paces suddenly burst into a full-scale scrap – Matias Orlando and Anthony Volmink getting yellow-carded for their part in the spiteful exchanges.

This was followed by a penalty try to the Jaguares, when the Lions refused to release the ball in the tackle metres from their line – Santiago González Iglesias adding the extras, 49-14.

The Lions produced a few late moments of brilliance – as first No.8 Ruan Ackermann burst over from close range (after a five-metre line-out became a maul, that became a ruck and quick recycling created the momentum), before lock Lourens Erasmus got a late consolation in the wake of some powerful bursts by the forwards.

The game finished with the visitors winning 49-28.

The scorers:

For the Lions:

Tries: Fourie, Vorster, Ackermann, Erasmus

Cons: Boshoff 2, Van der Walt 2

For the Jaguares:

Tries: Boffelli, Cordero, De la Fuente 3, Bertranou, Penalty try

Cons: Sanchez 6, Iglesias

Yellow cards: Javier Ortega Desio (Jaguars, 59 – professional foul, not retreating 10 metres), Matias Orlando (Jaguares, 67 – foul play, punching), Anthony Volmink (Lions, 67 – foul play, punching)

Teams:

Lions: 15 John-Wessel Bell, 14 Koch Marx, 13 Nicolaas Hanekom, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Dillon Smit, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Stephan de Wit, 5 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Corne Fourie.

Replacements – from: Malcolm Marx, Dylan Smith, Jacques van Rooyen, Lourens Erasmus, Bobby de Wee, Martin Muller, Ramone Samuels, Fabian Booysen, Ruaan Lerm, Jaco van der Walt, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Jacques Nel, Ashlon Davids, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Ricky Schroeder , Selom Gavor.

Jaguares: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Lucas Noguera.  

Replacements – from: Matías Orlando, Facundo Isa, Matías Alemanno, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Santiago García Botta, Julian Montoya, Felipe Arregui, Felipe Ezcurra, Santiago González Iglesias, Rodrigo Baez, Gonzalo Bertranou, Joaquín Paz.

Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)

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