Cell C Sharks Win War of Attrition – Featured Durban Blog

The Cell C Sharks were made to work hard for a valuable 25-22 Vodacom Super Rugby victory over the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Saturday night.

It was a tough and uncompromising match with the Jaguares playing their regulation style rugby, forwards looking to impose themselves physically and the backs hoping to exploit gaps in defence.

The Cell C Sharks exploited the home side’s indiscipline to regularly put points on the board as they faced a massive battle against a game Jaguares side.

The Jaguares sent their home crowd into raptures after the big lock Lavanini followed up well to take the final pass and sprint to the tryline in the opening ten minutes following a fairly scratchy start from both sides still finding their feet; the Cell C Sharks having negotiated three continents in two weeks and the Argentines fresh off a bye.

Nicolas  Sanchez was accurate with the conversion and the Jaguares were in the lead early, although Pat Lambie made no mistake with a well-taken penalty after the home side were blown up at scrum time.

A second Lambie penalty minutes later reduced the gap to just one point as the Cell C Sharks were starting to enjoy some time on attack and keep the ball alive.

However, their joy was short-lived as referee Marius van der Westhuizen called on the TMO to refer on a possible try, which was awarded and with the conversion, the Jaguares had taken themselves into a 14-6 lead with a quarter of the game played.

Director of Rugby Gary Gold warned this week what a factor the home crowd would be and they passionately made their feelings known, cheering every big hit from their team and jeering when things didn’t go their way.

As they did when the Cell C Sharks were awarded another of the regular penalties, which Pat Lambie duly converted just before the half hour mark.

Another penalty followed moments later, this time earning the ire of the referee who put the Jaguares on a warning for repeated infringements. Lambie made no mistake from directly in front, cutting the lead to just two points.

Sadly, there was massive disappointment for Jean Deysel who fell awkwardly in a tackle and had to leave the field with a neck injury. This opened the door for Tera Mtembu to come on for his first Super Rugby game of the year.

The passionate Argentines were duly penalised in defence of their line and the referee followed up his earlier warning, sending Pablo Matera to the sin bin. The Cell C Sharks kicked to the corner and a series of pick and drives was rewarded when Daniel du Preez powered over the line to score his team’s only try to the Cell C Sharks into the lead and give them huge confidence against a hungry Jaguares side.

Lambie’s conversion was good, taking the visitors into a 19-14 lead with less than five minutes of the half remaining, although there was time for one last score, Sanchez adding his first penalty before the teams headed for the changerooms, the scoreboard reading 19-17 to the Cell C Sharks.

The Jaguares continued to haemorrhage penalties – more than twice the number of the Cell C Sharks – and Lambie was the first points’ scorer in the second half, adding a fifth penalty to his personal tally as the final half hour’s play loomed.

With the Jaguares enjoying huge advantage in terms of possession, it was testament to outstanding defence and commitment from the Cell C Sharks that they had managed to hold out under a sustained period of attack from the home side who came perilously close numerous times without managing to add to their half-time score.

The Cell C Sharks survived a second TMO decision when the ruling was the ball held up over the tryline as they escaped yet another Jaguares incursion into their 22, but not the consequence of an earlier warning as S’bura Sithole was carded for off-sides with the tryline still under siege.

30 minutes of defence was finally broken as the Jaguares managed to crash over to eventually get the reward they had been working so hard for, and with the conversion going wide, the scores were level, leaving the final 10 minutes of the game poised on a knife’s edge.

With two minutes remaining, a powerful Cell C Sharks scrum earned them a potential match-winning penalty, and under huge pressure, Lambie converted.

The Jaguares got the ball back and pushed hard for a minute and a half of extra time before a long pass went over the wing and out and that was the ball game.