Jaguares will be real threat in Super Rugby
Fleck keen to test young Stormers team against seasoned Argentines
IN 20 seasons, a New Zealand team has won the Super Rugby title on 13 occasions. The Stormers’ schedule exempts them from facing any of the Kiwi contenders in 2016, but coach Robbie Fleck has identified a “real threat” that is much closer to home.
“The Jaguares are the threat in the Africa conferences,” the Stormers coach said yesterday after a training session at the team’s Bellville facility.
“(Africa 2) is the pool that the Lions, Sharks and Kings are in, and that’s a tough one with the Jaguares.”
Super Rugby has expanded from 15 to 18 teams this season, with the reinstated Southern Kings representing South Africa’s sixth franchise, while Argentina and Japan’s inaugural teams are named the Jaguares and Sunwolves.
Historically, expansion teams have struggled to hit the ground running. The Western Force (2006) and Melbourne Rebels (2011) both finished their opening campaigns in last place.
This appears to the path awaiting two of this season’s expansion teams. Many of the Kings players are still recovering from offfield issues, including playing without pay for months. They will exceed public expectation if they win more than four games.
The Sunwolves have also endured administrative issues and, for many of the players, face a steep learning curve as far as the competition’s notorious travel factor is concerned.
But none of these matters hampers the Jaguares, a team that bears a striking resemblance to the one that represented Argentina at last year’s World Cup.
The Pumas were beaten by Australia in the semi-finals and no fewer than 11 of the starters from that match have been included in a Jaguares squad that features almost 30 internationals.
“If you go according to what those players did at the World Cup, and the amount of international players there, they’re a real threat in this competition,” added Fleck. “They’re coming hard and I’m grateful we’ll be able to measure ourselves against them.”
The Jaguares are set to line up at Newlands next Saturday (February 20) in the Stormers’ second and final pre-season warm-up game.
The Stormers opened their pre-season account with a six-try, 40-15 win against the SWD Eagles in George last week, and Fleck wants to test the weight of that result against more seasoned opposition.
“For us, our challenge is that our team is young,” he said. “We need to build confidence by getting off to a good start and next weekend is going to be a good gauge as to where we are.”
The Stormers will be at Newlands again on February 27 when the Bulls visit in the final match of round one. They then travel to Bloemfontein to take on the Cheetahs before returning to host the Sharks and Brumbies, and then it’s off to Buenos Aires to play the Jaguares for real on March 27.
Meanwhile the Stormers have lost another Springbok centre to injury. Jaco Taute has been ruled out of the season-opener against the Bulls at Newlands on February 27.
“Jaco injured his ankle in the friendly against the SWD Eagles and he’ll go in for an operation on Thursday,” said Stormers coach Robbie Fleck. “He’ll definitely miss the Bulls game.”