St.George Queensland Reds lose to Jaguares
The St.George Queensland Reds lost 22-8 to the Jaguares in Round 5 of Vodafone Super Rugby in Buenos Aires overnight.
For the second week in a row the Reds were forced to play with 13 men after Eto Nabuli and Kane Douglas were sent to the sin bin for separate offences.
The Jaguares crossed for two tries in that period and the Reds couldn’t recover from the deficit as their execution let them down.
Reds head coach Nick Stiles said: “We simply weren’t good enough to get a win tonight. It’s incredibly frustrating because we could have won that game in difficult circumstances, but we weren’t patient enough to build pressure and our execution let us down.”
After making his Super Rugby debut last week, Markus Vanzati scrummaged well in his run-on debut, holding up against an experienced Jaguares pack.
Lachlan Maranta and Kirwan Sanday made their Super Rugby debuts from the bench while James Tuttle also made his run-on debut at scrumhalf.
Hendrik Tui started at blindside flanker after a late eye injury to Leroy Houston forced a reshuffle.
Throughout the opening quarter, the Reds threatened to break the game open, piercing the Jaguares defence with a number of attacking raids.
Discipline and handling errors let the Jaguares off the hook as the Reds failed to apply scoreboard pressure.
As the match approached the 20-minute mark, the Reds were dealt two yellow cards in quick succession and the Jaguares capitalised when Jeronimo De La Fuente crossed for the first try.
Jaguares winger Ramiro Moyano extended the home side’s lead, crossing for the Jaguares’ second try before Nabuli and Douglas returned from the bin.
Jake McIntyre opened the Reds’ account with a penalty goal 33 minutes into the match but Jaguares flyhalf Juan Martin Hernandez responded on the cusp of half-time taking the scores to 15-3.
De La Fuente crossed for a double after the half-time break, extending the Jaguares lead to 22-3 after Hernandez slotted the conversion.
Awarded two penalties within kicking range, the Reds opted for the lineout and had the Jaguares pinned on their try line before Scott Higginbotham crashed over to reduce the deficit to 12 points.
With Bautista Ezcurra sent to the sin bin in the 62nd minute, the Reds failed to exploit the personal advantage.
Samu Kerevi made two damaging breaks late in the match but handling errors ensured the Jaguares would hold on.
The Reds return home on Monday and will face the Hurricanes at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday 1 April at 6:45 pm.
St.George Queensland Reds 8 (Scott Higginbotham 1 try; Jake McIntyre 1 pen goal) defeated by Jaguares 22 (Jeronimo De La Fuente 2, Ramiro Moyano tries; Juan Martin Hernandez 2 cons, 1 pen goal) at Jose Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires on Sunday 25 March 2017.
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