Jaguares to plan a better way ahead

FOUR wins from 15 matches was considered a disappointing return for Argentina’s Jaguares in their maiden Super Rugby campaign but hopes are high the Puma-laden squad can bring to bear the lessons learned for a more successful second season.

Pumas coach Raul Perez believes familiarity with the type of game required to succeed and a slightly less onerous travel schedule will help contribute to an improvement in 2017.

The biggest lesson learned, however, might be for those in Argentina who assumed that success on the Test stage would transfer automatically to the largely southern hemisphere provincial competition.

“We have to manage expectations better, concentrate on the first match, then go match by match,” said Perez, whose squad is made up of almost the same personnel as the national team.

“Last year we had a squad that had finished fourth at the World Cup. There were high expectations and there was additional pressure to live up to that.”

The Jaguares will open their second campaign with a two-match tour of South Africa but will be without some big names when they cross the South Atlantic.

Centre Juan Martin Hernandez, scrumhalf Martin Landajo and lock Tomas Lavanini are missing from the squad of 27, as is veteran back-rower Juan Manuel Leguizamon, who is among half a dozen players with injury issues.

Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez is also on the injury list but travelling because although he may miss the opener against Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, he should be available to face Stormers in Cape Town a week later.

Added to these temporary absences was the blow of the sudden loss of Facundo Isa altogether after the talented young number eight decided to sign a two-year contract with French side Toulon.

Four members of the squad – forwards Cristian Bartoloni and Benjamin Macome and backs Joaquin Diaz Bonilla and Bautista Ezcurra – are rookies but Perez is confident they will be assets in a growing franchise.

“We have four debutants and that’s a big challenge. But when we chose the squad we based our decisions on current form and we’re very hopeful about what they can bring to the team.”

Perez thinks he knows what to expect from the two South African sides, having monitored the Currie Cup, in which the Western Province side that feeds the Stormers reached the semifinals and the Eastern Province Kings finished winless and last.

“We’ve been looking at both rivals and following them in the Currie Cup,” he said. “We already know that a team that does well in that tournament then takes off in Super Rugby.”

Jaguares hammered the Kings 73-27 at home last season but indiscipline let them down in the return in Port Elizabeth, where they lost 29-22. – Reuters