Jaguares’ naivety pays off for Sharks in tight contest

IN keeping the Jaguares scoreless in the second half, the Sharks were able to keep the combative South Americans at bay and claim their fifth consecutive Super Rugby win.

As the close score suggested, it was not straightforward and the Sharks had the tactical naïvety and lack of discipline from the visitors to rely on.

Once Raul Perez’s side find the right tactical balance they will be a difficult proposition at home. Whether the Sharks are to be feared will be seen on Saturday against the Stormers.

The contrasting styles of play was as stark as the jerseys. In their bright orange, the Jaguares felt compelled to run the ball from everywhere.

It worked to an extent when they scored the opening try through Emilliano Bofelli in the seventh minute.

Santiago Cordero collected Joe Pietersen’s atrocious clear- ance kick from outside his 22m and initiated a flowing move that saw the left winger dotting down under the poles.

It spurred the men in black and their menacing rolling maul into action.

Marcell Coetzee was the first recipient of the Sharks’ maul dominance in the 10th minute when the visitors withered in the face of the black wave.

Their famed red mist took hold of them as the Sharks forwards took charge. Rodrigo Baez and Pablo Matera were sin-binned within a minute of each other just past the halfhour mark by the pedantic but efficient Jaco Peyper for deliberate infringements. As is their nature now, the Sharks could not make the most of their numerical advantage. Instead, it was the Jaguares who landed a sucker punch through Cordero in the 38th minute.

The try was as exhilarating as it was ludicrous, for the Sharks did well to move from their 22 to outside the Jaguares’ 22 with four passes and no phases. Willie le Roux had offloaded to Odwa Ndungane, who passed to Daniel du Preez. He found his twin Jean-Luc, who lost the ball in contact. With the Sharks defence scattered and fractured, the ball was moved to Boffelli, who hacked downfield.

Cordero hared downfield and beat Ndungane to the ball.

The second half did not retain the nature of the first stanza but whatever homework the Sharks did on the Jaguares seemed insufficient.

They were constantly pulled into the breakdown skirmishes where Peyper was ruthless on both teams. The final pass also seemed to elude Gary Gold’s side as they were able to create openings without adding the knockout blow.

One example in the 60th minute was a sweeping backline move started by Pietersen where he delayed in offloading to either Ndungane or Le Roux when an overlap was created. The Jaguares’ scramble defence seemed to beat the Sharks to the key rucks.

If there was a disappointing facet, it was their scrum, which was easily handled by Tendai Mtawarira and company.

VICTORIOUS: Joe Pietersen

Discipline ended up being the deal breaker as the Jaguares’ inability to deal with the breakdown proved their anathema.

With their refusal to give the Sharks any sort of free possession from territorial kicks, it inadvertently hurt them as the Sharks were not required to defend deep. It also gave them an opportunity to attack further upfield than they anticipated, but this was not something the hosts capitalised on.