JAGUARES TAME TOOTHLESS LIONS; Rugby 365

SUPER RUGBY REPORT: THE JAGUARES PUNISHED THE LIONS FOR SOME POOR DEFENDING AS THEY CRUISED TO A 36-24 VICTORY IN BUENOS AIRES ON SATURDAY.

The Buenos Aires-based outfit disappointed in their debut season, winning only four of 15 matches last year and never seriously challenging for a quarterfinal place.

But it could be a different story this season after their second victory in three matches, having won convincingly and lost narrowly on a tour of South Africa. Lacking unavailable flyhalf Elton Jantjies and centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg, the Lions were a pale shadow of the team that finished runners-up last season.

Captain and No.8 Warren Whiteley conceded that his team were no match for the Jaguares at Estadio Jose Amalfitani in the Argentine capital.

"Congratulations to the Jaguares, they were much better than us. They dominated us physically in a very tough match and now we must recover quickly for a home game against the Reds next weekend.

"We gave several youngsters a chance because some first choices were unavailable and the experience of playing in Argentina will do them good," Whiteley said.

It was the Lions' first loss after defeating compatriots the Cheetahs away and the Waratahs of Australia at home.

The scoreline flattered the visitors as Jaguares flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez missed four of 10 shots at goal and the Lions scored two late tries after flank Tomas Lezana was yellow-carded. Lions lock Andries Ferreira was sin-binned during the first half and a similar punishment was given to hooker Robbie Coetzee during the second half.

Sanchez was fortunate not to be yellow-carded by New Zealand referee Nick Briant on two occasions in a bruising battle.

Jaguares led 21-7 at the break and Sanchez sealed success for the South Americans with a try that stretched the lead to 24 points by the hour mark. Fullback Joaquin Tuculet, wing Ramiro Moyano, centre Jeronimo de la Fuente and Sanchez scored tries and the flyhalf kicked two conversions and four penalties.

Whiteley (2), prop Jacques van Rooyen and hooker Malcolm Marx crossed the try-line for the Lions and Shaun Reynolds and Jaco van der Walt kicked conversions.

Man of the match: Malcolm Marx, Jaco Kriel and Francois de Klerk made a massive difference to the Lions' attacking efforts when they came on in the second half, while the starting XV found the going tough. Joaquín Tuculet, Ramiro Moyano and Santiago Cordero gave their side plenty of running options while Nicolás Sánchez had a fairly good game, despite some dodgy tackling. Tomás Lezana put in a massive effort before being sent off in the closing stages. However, Pablo Matera was the real work-horse and set the standard for the rest of his team to follow.

Scorers:

For Jaguares:
Tries: Tuculet, Moyano, de la Fuente, Sanchez
Cons: Sanchez 2
Pens: Sanchez 4

For Lions:
Tries: Whiteley 2, van Rooyen, Marx
Cons: Reynolds

Yellow cards: Andries Ferreira (Lions, dangerous play - high tackle, 21); Robbie Coetzee (Lions, dangerous play - high tackle, 55); Tomás Lezana (Jaguares, cynical play - collapsing the maul, 72)

Teams:

Jaguares: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Tomás Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Felipe Arregui, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Santiago García Botta.
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Cristian Bartoloni, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Juan Martín Hernández, 23 Matías Moroni.

Lions: 15 Jaco van der Walt, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Jacques Nel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Shaun Reynolds, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Albertus Smith, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Andries Coetzee, 23 Sylvian Mahuza.

Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)

Agence France-Presse

 Interesting that the author states:
"Lacking unavailable flyhalf Elton Jantjies and centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg, the Lions were a pale shadow of the team that finished runners-up last season."

I am sure that will prompt some debate on this forum. Also interesting  that Whiteley admits they were out muscled as the Lions generally are considered on the diminutive side as are the hapless wee stormers. Could be tough days ahead for these little guys unless they can leverage speed and skills.

 ...JW i think the dopey Jaguary flyhalf has been cited...i can see him missing the next game...a bit of a loose unit..  

 But they did have the highly rated Voster....who missed 4 of his 10 tackle attempts. Look these guys were the only really settled South African team last year.....but the individuals were very overrated, as we saw in the subsequent tests. The Leins always have a huge advantage playing at 6000 feet, even over other SA teams except for the Bools....but I doubt they will repeat as leaders of the SA conference.

 Sure Mozart has always said what he did now.   So what else is new?   His rpetiitiveness is boring with nothing new being said.   The team was largely dysfunctional because of some selections by Ackerman and was not even assessed by our lunatic commentator.
As per normal he did not watch the game and saw nothing - but make comments on it.  What a farce.
I am not particularly worried - the Lions beat both the C rusaders and Highlanders by big margins in their campaign last year and they only have Aussie teams to contend with this year.   A loss against the Jaguars will be corrected in their return match.  
I do rate the Jaguares team though - they are virtually playing the Pumas test side and they should do well in Super Rugby - better than they did last year.    

 
One would think that once bitten twice shy!!

Seems Ackerman doesn't learn from his stupid decisions.

He threw away the SR title last year doing the same thing ... all in the name of keeping players "fresh". Seriously ... ?? after two rounds one would think that pl ayers are still fresh enough to go a few more rounds before breaking down.

I hope he wakes up soon.

Idiot!!!!!!!!

 I am surprised at the team selection - even though Van Rensburg was left at home because of the death of his mother and Jantjies was having a baby.   However, the starting 11 still baffled me completely.   Vorster was thrown to the dogs having to play at 12 between a rookie flyhalf and outside center. 
Why he did not start with Marx and Kriel is another strange one.   Why did Andries Coetzee not play?
When will Combrinck be back from injury - they need him badly.   

 "We gave several youngsters a chance because some first choices were unavailable
Sanchez was fortunate not to be yellow-carded by New Zealand referee Nick Briant on two occasions in a bruising battle.

Lions lock Andries Ferreira was sin-binned during the first half and a similar punishment was given to hooker Robbie Coetzee during the second half.

Malcolm Marx, Jaco Kriel and Francois de Klerk made a massive difference to the Lions' attacking efforts when they came on in the second half
The above comments highlight some of the issues
Ackkers fielded a 844 kg pack what the heck did he expect.  This is about as daft as dense denise gets.
It would appear that the nz ref disgraced himself. Nothing unusual here. My good friend Brycy notes that Sanchez has been sited BUT OF COURSE SAYS ZERO ABOUT THE CIASED NZ "REF" B WAHAHAHAHAHAHHA HOW THESE KBBS ARE SO EASILY CAUGHT OUT BY THE ESTEEMED BEENO
A player the lions really miss is Redlinghuys as when he is there there Lions scrum dominates

 Beeno
The Sanchez case was a strange decision and the ref would probably get a severe reprimand about it - it looks so dangerous a red was probably more appropriate than even a yellow card and he got  neither.   The ball was kicked and the recipient caught it staying on the ground and going low in the process .  Sanchez jumped in the air and kicked the poor recipient in the face.   that was dangerous play and I would not be surprised if Sanchez got a few weeks off in this case.  
I must admit that the refereeing was poor - but the rookie selections of Ackerman was really puzzling. 
No excuses though - the Lions lost the match and that was that.   I was worried when I saw the team - it smacked very much like what happened last year in the Lions away game against the Jaguares.  

 Look these guys were the only really settled South African team last year.....but the individuals were very overrated, as we saw in the subsequent tests.

The whole SA rugby is overrated. It is kept together on the remnants from the past, nostalgia, fear as the world of rugby does not want to face the meaning of the termination of rugby in SA. They prefer to keep fancying.