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The Lions were 47-39 winners today in Johannesburg. The South Africans overpowered what was a substandard Jaguares’ performance with the scrum seeing the hosting having a notable advantage.
In all there were thirteen tries scored with the Lions claiming seven and Los Jaguares six. Yet the total of tries and the scorecard does not tell an accurate story of the match itself. Los Jaguares were flattered by the final score and had been trailing 47-13 in the 50th minute.
Gonzalo Quesada’s reliable defense against the Blues and Bulls was not replicated today against the Lions. In its place was a disjointed arrangement as the team resembled that of the underwhelming Jaguares and Pumas performances in 2017.
Weak defense saw Rhyno Herbst through a Joaquín Tuculet tackle to score the opening try. The 15th minute try was converted by Elton Jantjies. The fly half would convert his own try sevens minutes later, doing so following Los Jaguares’ opening points via the boot of Joaquín Díaz Bonilla.
Try number three quickly followed. This time it came from long-range and saw a missed Guido Petti tackle opening space which Kwagga Smith turned into a try. Jantjies’ attempted conversion sailed wide.
Trailing by 16 points Los Jaguares needed to score next. They would do so with Díaz Bonilla putting in a cross-kick which replacement Ramiro Moyano gathered and put on the after-burners to dot down in spite of attempted tackles from Sylvian Mahuza and Ross Cronje.
A second try loomed shortly thereafter only for Los Jaguares to instead hand the Lions their fourth. A loose pass from winger Sebastián Cancelliere saw Wandisile Simelane running 70 meters to score untouched.
The Lions were in total control of the scrum but the maul was a different story altogether. From a five meter line-put hooker Julián Montoya joined the back and went over for a push-over try. The 38th minute effort set-up a 26-13 half-time scoreline.
Díaz Bonilla was off-target with both conversion attempts. Additional missed kicks would ultimately see the Argentine side missing out on an unlikely victory.
A win was far from in the discussion early in the second half. The Lions were again quickest out of the blocks with Marnus Schoeman punishing disorganized goal-line defense to dive over. He would follow it up by gathering a partially charged down kick which led to Courtnall Skosan scoring under the posts.
Minutes later Skosan was over again, this time linking with Jantjies who out in a perfectly aimed cross-kick for his unmarked winger. With the conversion over the Lions held a 47-13 lead in the 50th minute.
Tries would continue to rain but not from the Lions. Instead the final thirty minutes saw all the pints coming from Los Jaguares. First to score was Montoya who again crossed from a rolling maul from a line-out.
The Lions would not react to correct their maul failures. This saw them punished yet again with debutant Gaspar Baldunciel having replaced Montoya and having replicated the starting hooker to cross in the 72nd minute.
With one minute left to play Los Jaguares found their way over for two more tries. Outside center Matías Moroni scored the first and then set-up the second with Joaquín Tuculet crossing with time up. It saw the Lions missing out on a bonus point.
Los Jaguares are to remain in South Africa for one more week. They will travel to Cape Town to face the Stormers next weekend. A much changed line-up is expected with all of Matías Orlando set to return.
SCORING
LIONS
Try: Herbst, Jantjies, Simelane, Smith, Schoeman, Skosan (2)
Conversion: Jantjies (6)
JAGUARES
Try: Moyano, Montoya (2), Baldunciel, Moroni, Tuculet
Conversion: Díaz Bonilla, Mallía (2)
Penalty: Díaz Bonilla
TEAMS
LIONS
1 Dylan Smith, 2 Malcolm Marx (capt.), 3 Carlu Sadie, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 8 Kwagga Smith, 9 Ross Cronje, 10 Elton Jantjies, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 12 Franco Naude, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 15 Andries Coetzee
Replacements: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 James Venter, 21 Dillon Smit, 22 Harold Vorster, 23 Gianni Lombard
JAGUARES
1 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Matías Alemanno, 6 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Joaquín Tuculet (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Gaspar Baldunciel, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Matías Orlando, 23 Ramiro Moyano
