Sharks lower Jaguares' colours
It was an intense match in Durban on Saturday's evening. The Jaguars scored two tries to one and yet the Sharks dominated the territory by 73% to 27%. The Jaguares, bless them, were intent on playing with the ball in hand but against the Sharks they met a team of determined tacklers. They made many more tackles than the Jaguares and missed fewer.
Where the Jaguares were better was in their retention of possession. they ran straighter and had better support which their ball-carriers preferred using than holding onto till tackled. Especially in the first half the Sharks too often lost the ball in tackles whereas the Jaguares rarely did.
The Sharks were stronger than their opponents in the scrums, much stronger when they mauled and were about even in the line-outs.
Yet again the Jaguares suffered yellow fever. They had two players in the sin bin at the same time, which means that in their first two matches they have had four players sin-binned and one suspended after citing. And yet this time they did not suffer inordinately. In fact they won the sin-binning 5-0!
The Sharks scored first when Agustín Creevy was penalised and Joe Pietersen, who kicked well, goaled. 3-0 after two minutes.
The Jaguares were freekicked at a scrum and Pietersen opted to kick down into the Jaguares' 22, setting up a brilliant try as the Jaguares accepted the gift and started running. It looked harmless till the big Jaguares No.8 Leonardo Senatore went galloping down the left touchline. He played to Emiliano Boffelli and suddenly there were no defenders as Boffelli swept round to the posts. Nicolás Sánchez converted. 7-3 to the Jaguares after 6 minutes.
Wise me will tell you that the criterion for a kick is when and where you next get the ball. After Pietersen's kick, which could not be chased for any profit, the Sharks next got the ball to kick off.
A penalty gave the Sharks a line-out and they formed a maul and simply ran it at speed over the goal-line for a try credited to Marcell Coetzee. Pietersen converted from far out. 10-7 after 11 minutes.
After 15 minutes the scores were level through a penalty by Sánchez.
The Sharks had another running maul and then Willie le Roux came into the line to give Odwa Ndungane an overlap but he lost the ball forward in trying to pass inside.
Pietersen put the Sharks ahead and they were powerfully on the attack when first Rodrigo Báez for collapsing a maul, and then Pablo Matera for not retreating to his goal-line before tackling at a tapped penalty were sent to the sin bin. The Sharks then kicked out from in front of the posts for a line-out but knocked on in forming the maul.
The Sharks' attacked and Daniel du Preez burst downfield but at the Jaguares' 22 he was tackled and lost the ball forward. Santiago Cordero picked up, darted ahead and gave to Santiago González Iglesias who kicked a long way downfield. Cordero raced after the ball, got ahead of Ndungane and dived to take the ball over the line for the try. And, with two players in the sin bin, the Jaguares led 15-13.
The Sharks attacked but when Jean-Luc du Preez lost the ball the Jaguares broke out again.
There were no tries in the second half, just two Pietersen penalties, one on 50 minutes when Ramiro Herrera was penalised at a tackle, and one at a collapsed scrum, on 68 minutes.
The Sharks did have a promising moment in between those two penalties – when Coetzee burst out of tackles and charged at the line till Cordero felled him.
Though the Jaguares played on with constructive intent they were not able to break the Sharks' hold on the match.
Man of the Match: Our choice is Marcell Coetzee, relentless on defence and powerful with the ball in hand. He gets it just ahead of Joe Pietersen.
The scorers:
For the Sharks:
Try: Coetzee
Con: Pietersen
Pens: Pietersen 4
For the Jaguares:
Tries: Boffelli, Cordero
Con: Sanchez
Pen: Sanchez
Yellow cards: Rodrigo Báez (Jaguares, 31 – professional foul, cynically collapsing the maul), Pablo Matera (Jaguares, 33 – professional foul, tackling player without retreating 10 metres)
Teams:
Sharks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira (captain).
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Philip van der Walt, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Garth April, 23 Sibusiso Sithole.
Jaguares: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Matías Orlando, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Rodrigo Báez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Santiago García Botta.
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Javier Ortega Desio, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Joaquín Paz, 23 Lucas González Amorosino.
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa), Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)
