Category: Argentina Rugby

After losing to the Melbourne Rebels for the first time in their history earlier this year, the Sharks also suffered their first ever defeat to the Jaguares as they went down 29-13 in Argentina. The crowd of 19,214, the biggest the Jaguares have had in attendance for a while, saw the home side extend their run to six straight wins thanks to a hat trick from Moyano.

The Sharks were in it for a while, but as usual were let down by their handling errors. The backline didn’t get going and their cause wasn’t helped by an early missed penalty from Robert du Preez and a crucial knock on from Lwazi Mvovo with the tryline at his mercy. The Mvovo miss came at a crucial point when the game was at 17-13, and another Sharks knock on from a promising position just minutes later saw the Jaguares score on the counter.

The Jaguares owed much of their lead to silly defensive errors from the Sharks, like with Nkosi for the Jags’ second try, but they’ve been an improved outfit under Mario Ledesma and will be a serious contender for the playoffs after this season.

As for the Sharks, inconsistency continues to plague them. They also had skipper Ruan Botha red carded late in the game, and did not even manage a bonus point from the game. Their playoff hopes hang by a thread (they’re out of the top eight after this defeat), but fortunately for them, John Mitchell’s Bulls also lost to the Brumbies.