Tough Hurdle Overcome – Featured Durban Blog

They might be the Jaguares in name, but they really the Argentinian national rugby team in personnel, and goodness didn’t they give the Cell C Sharks a run for their money on Saturday.

With the lead changing hands on a number of occasions and neither side always able to establish dominance, such was the brutal, physical and competitive nature of the game, this was a valuable win no matter how you look at it.

“It was very tough, just as tough as we expected it to be,” said head coach Robert du Preez after the Cell C Sharks defeated the Jaguares 18-13 at Growthpoint KINGS PARK. “They’re a very difficult side to play against, a full test team, so I’m very proud of our victory, I think it was a fantastic win.”

Although the near-perfect weather conditions might suggest a game of running rugby, the heat and humidity often turned the ball into a wet bar of soap which helped neither side’s attacking momentum.

“It was very difficult because the ball was really slippery, especially that last 20 minutes.  It made it really difficult to play the way we wanted to,” he explained.

Playing different teams requires employing a different game plan in order to counter the strengths and perceived weaknesses of your opponents, and certainly this clash would have demanded a number of different ploys to ensure victory.

Particularly as the Jaguares have refined their structure to combine tough, no-nonsense forwards with a competitive and very physical attitude alongside elusive, strong running backs who bring strong attacking skills to their game.

“This is a team with lots of character and that’s what was demanded of us for this match,” du Preez admitted.

“The forwards were outstanding, they laid the foundation for the win. The bench also contributed, when the new front row came on – Lourens, Thomas and Chiliboy – they really had a strong influence on the game.”

After Garth April pulled a calf muscle on Thursday in a freak injury during practice and didn’t recover in time, a late call was made to bring in Inny Radebe at flyhalf and the youngster performed well, said du Preez.

“I thought he did really well, he came through which is good for me. And he would have learned a lot from this game. It was really tough out there and he wasn’t getting ball on the front foot. He’ll just get better.”

Another  player du Preez felt had a big influence on the game was centre Andre Esterhuizen.

“In my opinion, he’s the best 12 in the country, he’s been playing great rugby and his skills levels have improved immensely.”

With the bye ahead over the forthcoming weekend, the players take a well-deserved break before returning for the next few rounds of matches.

“We’ve played seven games on the trot now and it’s been particularly tough, especially with our players going to the Bok camp; we had 13 guys there on Monday and Tuesday and they had a tough work-out, so we only had one day of preparation.  The boys are really looking forward to the break before we host the Rebels.”

But for now, smiles are permitted, given that we’re second on the log; this was a crucial victory within our conference.

The Cell C Sharks had to negotiate a competitive Jaguares side before their efforts were able to secure a narrow, hard-fought 18-13 Vodacom Super Rugby victory at Growthpoint KINGS PARK on Saturday.

Despite the season reflecting that it is officially autumn, this match was played in hot summer conditions, usual for Durban at this time of the year, but having an impact as the slippery ball, wet from the humidity, played havoc for both teams.

The Cell C Sharks bounced back from the disappointment of their narrow loss to the Lions last week against the very dangerous Jaguares who came to play.

The first five minutes of the game was characterised by some early nerves with neither team able to close out opportunities, but x-factor scrumhalf Cobus Reinach produced a moment of magic to score the first try of the game when he stole the ball in the tackle and raced all of 60m down the touchline, too quick for the defence as we struck the first blow.

The Jaguares earned a scrum penalty five minutes later to reduce the score to 5-3 in our favour and then a second kickable penalty a few minutes later saw Sanchez send his team into a one point lead.

There was a pair of penalties that went astray as the Jaguares battled to reinforce little advantages they earned, and we suffered a blow when the game hit the end of the first quarter as Lwazi Mvovo had to leave the field after taking a heavy knock.

We retook the lead as the game approach half an hour’s play when Bosch converted from directly in front after Radebe was sent to the ground in a no-arms tackle.

There were only two points in it – 8-6 to us – as the teams headed for the changerooms at half-time, following the history of games played between the two teams. We had won both previous matches, but narrowly (three and four points), such is the competitiveness of games between the sides.

But there had been drama aplenty leading up to the break as Beast Mtawarira broke through for an outstanding individual effort. He was caught before he could score but the ball was recycled, we were almost there before Curwin Bosch came agonisingly close to scoring a second try before the last line of defence saved the visitors.

The second half started in blindingly exciting fashion as we received the kick-off and went into attack mode immediately as half the team took the ball deep into Jaguares territory, Bosch showing lightning quick heels to make a great break before Lukhanyo Am was tackled into touch just short of the tryline.

But if the Jaguares thought they were out of the woods, they were sadly wrong as the forwards mauled the ball up minutes later and when it was recycled to the backline, Andre Esterhuizen received the ball at pace and there was no stopping his bulldozer run over the tryline.  Bosch converted to put us into a 15-6 lead barely four minutes into the second half.

We almost had our third try but for a TMO referral that confirmed a knock-on in the lead-up to Reinach dotting down for what would have been his second try. But there was a sense of a definite advantage in our favour.

A cynical early tackle by Sanchez on his opposite man, Inny Radebe, after Esterhuizen had made a powerful run, saw the visitors reduced to 14 men. We got to within a metre of the tryline before conceding a penalty for holding on, but the momentum was definitely on our side.

But this Jaguares side didn’t go into this game second on the Africa 2 conference log for nothing, and a TMO-referred try was awarded. With the conversion it was back to a two point game despite the numbers disadvantage.

With three minutes to play and the result not yet wrapped up, we monstered the Jaguares on their own scrum put-in, earned a penalty and Bosch sent it through to give us an 18-13 lead.

It would be enough to hold out for a valuable win.