Jaguares worthy of some respect
OPINION: There’s no need to try to score points or make jokes at the Lions’ expense.
The final score of Jaguares 49-Lions 35 is all the material you need.
The Jaguares’ Super Rugby travel schedule is horrific and, from a limited player pool, they continually turn out creditable performances. They might not be easy on the eye or win every week, but their effort is always admirable.
Yesterday’s victory in Buenos Aires pushed them up to 12th on the standings which, in isolation, doesn’t look especially good. But when you consider the Blues and Bulls are among the three teams that sit below them, then the Jaguares aren’t doing too badly.
These might not be the best incarnations of the Bulls and Blues, but the fact remains they’re both three-time Super Rugby champions and come from countries with impeccable rugby pedigrees.
The Bulls kicked off this latest round by losing 33-14 to the Crusaders in a game that didn’t have a lot to recommend it.
Centre Jack Goodhue got two tries for the victors and continues to garner rave reviews in some sections of the press. Fair enough. Perhaps his qualities are too subtle for dullards like myself to appreciate.
Good luck to the Rebels. They beat a disappointing Sharks side 46-14 and continue to top the table. But let’s see if they can put 40 points on the Hurricanes when they come to Melbourne on Friday night.
The Hurricanes might be known for their attack but their defensive efforts have been decent in the last couple of outings. After holding the Crusaders to 19 points a fortnight back, the Hurricanes were reasonably impressive in beating the Highlanders 29-12 on Saturday.
The Highlanders had rattled on 41, 33 and 25 in their wins over the Blues, Stormers and Crusaders respectively, so the 12 they mustered at Westpac Stadium wasn’t many.
The Hurricanes weren’t at their most fluent in attack, but you get the feeling they’re going to give someone a real hiding in the coming weeks. They beat the Rebels 71-6 last year, but the demise of the Western Force has left the Melbourne side in better shape than they were then.
Elsewhere this weekend, the Chiefs went to Tokyo and did a professional job in beating the Sunwolves 61-10. It was the romp the Chiefs probably wanted, having had to really empty the tank to beat the Bulls and Blues in recent weeks, on top of their hard-fought loss to the Crusaders.
A bit of praise needs to be reserved for the Stormers, too. After being pipped in Sydney by the Waratahs, they competed for long periods of the subsequent losses to the Crusaders and Highlanders. They then went home and rolled the Blues 37-20 and have now beaten the Reds 25-19.
The Stormers are another of those teams whose effort can’t be faulted. What they lacked was a touch of class to turn their endeavour into points.
In 19-year-old first five-eighth Damian Willemse that missing bit of quality might have been found.