The Jaguares beat the Hurricanes 28-20 on Friday to strengthen their bid for the South African conference title.
The Hurricanes have won a few games they should have lost in 2019. On this occasion, however, they failed to complete a comeback against a superior Jaguares side.
The hosts suffered a big setback in the 15th minute. Fullback Jordie Barrett was shown a yellow card after deliberately knocking a loose ball over his own dead-ball line. The referee also opted to award the Jaguares a penalty try.
The Jaguares took control of the contest from there, scoring two more tries before the break. The visitors led the more-fancied Hurricanes 21-8 at half-time.
The Hurricanes hit back in the second half via a Ngani Laumape try. Reserve hooker Julian Montoya, however, restored the big lead for the visitors in the 66th minute. Joaquin Diaz Bonilla kicked an important conversion thereafter to stretch the lead to 15 points.
Kane Le’aupepe scored after fulltime for the hosts, but could not deny the Jaguares four important log points. The result marks the Argentinians’ first-ever win in Wellington.
Hurricanes – Tries: Vaea Fifita, Ngani Laumape, Kane Le’aupepe. Conversion: Jordie Barrett. Penalty: Barrett.
Jaguares – Tries: Penalty try, Agustin Creevy, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Julian Montoya. Conversions: Joaquin Diaz Bonilla (3).
Hurricanes – 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 James Marshall, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 8 Ardie Savea , 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Jeff To’omaga-Allen, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Toby Smith
Subs:16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Kane Le’aupepe, 20 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Fletcher Smith, 23 Salesi Rayasi.
Jaguares – 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (c), 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Joaquin Diaz Bonilla, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Subs: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Matias Orlando.
Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
