Blues feel Jaguares’ bite
Late surge falls short as McDonald’s men hit solid defensive wall in Buenos Aires
The Jaguares consigned the Blues to their third defeat of the season with a performance based on a near unbreachable defence in Buenos Aires yesterday.
A late Dalton Papalii try created some excitement among the Blues, who were playing a day after the news broke about the sudden death of Blues prop Mike Tamoaieta, and the visitors mounted a furious attack — really their first of the match — in the final three minutes.
A scrum penalty 5m out with the final hooter gone saw them pack down another set piece, but there was to be no fairytale finish at the Jose Amalfitani Stadium.
Given their travels from South Africa and emotional state after learning of the death of their 23-year-old colleague, it was probably a credit to them that they got so close.
And almost inevitably, there was another refereeing controversy, with South African Rasta Rasivhenge first awarding and then ruling out a try for Blues prop Ofa Tuungafasi. Rasivhenge, in a good position, said he saw the ball grounded on the line but had a quick change of mind when he saw a replay on the big screen. And even the way the final scrum ended will leave to some head-scratching among the Blues coaching staff.
With the ball appearing to pop out and a Jaguares player going off his feet and effectively sealing off possession, another penalty could have been awarded to the Blues, but it wasn’t to be and they are now 0-3 for the season with a potentially difficult match against the Sunwolves at North Harbour on Saturday to come.
It is another difficult one to swallow for the Blues, who found their attacking inspiration far too late in the match. They were poor in Durban last weekend and lacked spark and inspiration yesterday, with former All Black Ma’a Nonu clearly not at his best in the midfield.
Two Otere Black penalty misses were also costly, and the Blues failed to take advantage of a now predictable yellow card late in the first half to lock Tomas Lavanini, who hit an unsuspecting Tom Robinson with a shoulder.
Both teams were so risk averse in the first 35 minutes that it appeared the match was progressing in slow motion.
They were both crying out for a bit of creativity from their inside backs but instead it was a safety-first, crash-and-bash style straight out of a Northern Hemisphere winter.
That’s until the Jaguares had a burst of inspiration with halftime approaching. Clearly recognising that something different was required to break down a good Blues defence, a quick penalty tap spread wide had the visitors scrambling and, while Augustine Pulu did get back to apparently snuff out the danger, a poor clearing kick found wing Ramiro Moyano, who got to the tryline far too easily.
Another Moyano try down the left in the second half put the Jaguares well in control, and they seemed set for an easy win when Julian Montoya went over in the corner.
But Papalii’s converted try, which came out of nowhere, sparked the Blues and created an intensity for both teams that had been sorely missed for most of the match.
Unfortunately for them it came far too late. The realistic challenge for the Blues is now not to win the New Zealand conference but to see if they can finish above the Chiefs, who, remarkably, are also 0-3 for the season after their shock loss to the Sunwolves in Hamilton.
Jaguares 23 (Ramiro Moyano 2, Julian Montoya tries; Joaquin Diaz Bonilla 2 pens, con)
Blues 19 (Dalton Papalii try; Otere Black 4 pens, con),
Halftime: 11-9.
Sunwolves captain Michael Little has revealed how members of his team were struggling with the shock news of the sudden passing of Blues and North Harbour prop Michael Tamoaieta only hours before they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Super Rugby history.
Samoan-born Tamoaieta, who played 10 Super Rugby games for the Blues last year, died suddenly on Friday.
An emotional Little, who joined the Sunwolves from North Harbour last year, said 23-year-old Tamoaieta’s death had “hurt players all over New Zealand”.
“He kind of came into Harbour the year after I did but all Kiwis kind of know each other so it did hit pretty hard. It’s emotional talking about it. He’s a good man and he is going to be missed,” Little said, moments after the Sunwolves created history by beating the Chiefs 30-15 in Hamilton.
“It’s not the news you want to hear the morning of the game.
“My wife rang me and broke the news.
“It’s always on your mind coming into the game and I’m glad we got that performance.
Little also praised the Japanese outfit’s effort — in an error-strewn performance by the Chiefs, who have now lost their first three games.
It is the first time since the Sunwolves’ inception in 2015 that they had won away from home, breaking a streak of 24 straight losses, and their second Kiwi scalp after dominating the Blues 48-21 in 2017. Sunwolves 30 (Shuhei Matsuhashi, Uwe Helu, Gerhard van den Heever tries; Hayden Parker 3 cons, 3 pens) Chiefs 15 (Alex Nankivell, Etene Nanai-Seturo tries; Damian McKenzie con, pen). HT: 23-3.