Preview: Southern Kings vs Jaguares

May 27 • General News, Super Rugby • 2312 Views • Comments Off on Preview: Southern Kings vs Jaguares

The Southern Kings will host the Jaguares for the first time in the history of the Vodacom Super Rugby competition when they face each other at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday evening.
Along with the Southern Kings and Sunwolves, the Jaguares are one of three newly added teams after SANZAR confirmed in 2014 the expansion to the competition from 15 teams to 18 in 2016.

The Jaguares boasted no less than 22 players who represented Argentina at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and a handful of uncapped International players.

The Jaguares travelled to Bloemfontein to face the Cheetahs in their first match. The home side raced to a 24 – 3 lead at the close of the first quarter and ended the first half with a 24 – 17 lead. The visitors, however, fought back to record their maiden Vodacom Super Rugby win, 34 – 33. The following week they lost to the Cell C Sharks in Durban, 19 – 15.

They returned to Argentina where they faced the Chiefs in their first home game at the Jose Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires. The home side had a slender one point lead at the break and despite a seesaw battle throughout the match the Jaguares took the lead with just over five minutes to play. The Chiefs, however, managed to score the winning try in the final minute to take the game 30 – 26 at the end.

They suffered a further five straight losses, including a 22 – 40 defeat at the hands of last year’s runners-up, the Hurricanes, and a 28 – 36 defeat to the Sunwolves in Tokyo.

They returned home to face the Southern Kings in Round 10. The home side raced to a 28 – 3 lead at the end of the first quarter and adding another twelve points before the half ended, 40 – 15. The second half didn’t get any easier for the Southern Kings as the Jaguares added another thirty three points to end the game with only their second win, 73 – 27.

Since then the Jaguares lost to the Sharks at home and the Lions in Johannesburg, 22- 25 and 24 – 52 respectively.

The Southern Kings returned home to face the Blues at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The home side put in a brave performance against the three time Super Rugby champions, but lapses in concentration saw the home side slip tries at crucial times as the game ended 18 – 34 to the Blues.

The defeat to the New Zealanders came at a price as the Southern Kings had to travel to Bloemfontein to face the Cheetahs without a number of key players. The loss of captain Steven Sykes, CJ Velleman, Chris Cloete and seasoned prop Schalk Ferreira was evident as the home side won 34 – 20.

The Southern Kings will have to dig deep and take a hard look at themselves this week after a determined Sharks side scored 53 unanswered points against the visitors in their return match at Kingspark this past Saturday.

Southern Kings coach, Deon Davids made four changes to his starting XV. Amongst the backs, Wandile Mjekevu who is on loan from the Cell C Sharks comes in on the right wing as replacement for Luzuko Vulindlu and Stefan Watermeyer who has recovered from his injury replaces JP du Plessis in the midfield.

Two changes amongst the tight five sees JC Astle replacing Schalk Oelofse at lock, while Egar Marutlulle makes a welcomed return at hooker.

Kick-off is at 7pm.

Southern Kings:

15 Jurgen Visser 14 Lukhanyo Am 13 Stefan Watermeyer 12 Shane Gates 11 Wandile Mjekevu 10 Louis Fouché 9 Ntando Kebe 8 Aidon Davis 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 Stefan Willemse 5 JC Astle 4 Steven Sykes (c) 3 Jacobie Adriaanse 2 Edgar Marutlulle 1 Schalk Ferreira

Substitutes :

16 Martin Bezuidenhout 17 Justin Ackerman 18 Tom Botha 19 Schalk Oelofse 20 Jacques Engelbrecht 21 Kevin Luiters 22 Dewald Human 23 JP du Plessis

Jaguares:

15 Joaquín Tuculet 14 Matías Orlando 13 Segundo Tuculet 12 Juan Martín Hernández 11 Emiliano Boffelli 10 Nicolás Sánchez 9 Martín Landajo 8 Facundo Isa 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón 6 Tomás Lezana 5 Tomás Lavanini 4 Guido Petti 3 Ramiro Herrera 2 Agustin Creevy (c) 1 Santiago García Botta

Substitutes:

16 Julián Montoya 17 Facundo Gigena 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro 19 Matías Alemanno 20 Javier Ortega Desio 21 Felipe Ezcurra 22 Santiago González Iglesias 23 Ramiro Moyano

Written by Pierre Mc Leod