The Jaguares thumped an injury-hit Cheetahs 41-14 at Estadio Jose Amalfitani in Buenos Aires.
Ramiro Moyano scored a wonderful hat-trick and Juan Martín Hernández kicked 14 points in a comfortable bonus point win for the Argentina franchise.
The Cheetahs scored two converted tries from Michael van der Spuy and Joseph Dweba but, were comprehensively outplayed by the South Americans.
Moyano scored a first-half brace, either side of Matías Alemanno’s 21st-minute try, and Hernández’s boot, saw the hosts lead 24-7 at the break. Van der Spuy’s try and Neil Marais’ conversion was all the visitors had to show.
Joseph Dweba scored his first Super Rugby try late in the match but, then the hosts’ forwards powered over with a penalty try at the death, to complete the rout and add to Moyano’s third of the game.
The Jags have now won each of their last four games when hosting South African opposition, all by 12 or more points.
The hosts scored their first from a lovely move in midfield after a turnover. Tomás Lezana broke two tackles and offloaded to the onrushing Pablo Matera.
The flanker passed to Moyano, who was tackled but not held. He then crawled untouched to score in the corner.
Hernández kicked a penalty 10 minutes later, adding the conversion, to put the home team 10-0 up inside the opening quarter.
It was 17-0 soon after; the Jags’ forwards set up a driving maul, went through the phases and recycled before Alemanno powered over.
Franco Smith’s men hit back. The ball was sent wide, Marais drew two defenders and put Van der Spuy away for the score. The flyhalf added the conversion.
Moyano got his second after some wonderful interplay between the backs and forwards. The ball passed through 13 sets of hands.
Joaquín Tuculet touched the ball three times in the move, which stemmed from another missed touch, by the Cheetahs.
After a couple of phases, the Cheetahs’ cover defence ran out of numbers and skipper Agustín Creevy produced a deft basketball-like lob to the winger to score under the posts. Wow.
‘Oh Happy Day’ echoed around the stadium at halftime and by full time, it clearly was for the hosts.
Hernández added another penalty on 53 minutes to extend the lead to 20 points. The game became scrappy as the Cheetahs chased an unlikely win while, the Jaguares, chased a bonus point win.
When Santiago González Iglesias is sin-binned with eight minutes to play, the game opened up. Dweba reduced the deficit to 13 points, but the score was immediately cancelled out by Moyano’s third.
The Jaguares’ forwards supplied the killer blow on the hooter when they were awarded a penalty try after demolishing the Cheetahs’ pack and, complete the 27 point mauling.
The final score is Jaguares 41 (24) Cheetahs 14 (7)
Scorers
Jaguares
Tries – Moyano (3), Alemanno, Penalty try
Pen – Hernández (2)
Con -Hernández (4)
Drop –
Cards –
Cheetahs
Tries – Van der Spuy, Dweba
Pen –
Con – Marais (2)
Drop –
Cards – Yellow (González Iglesias, 72nd minute)
Match Officials
Referee: Paul Williams
Assistant Ref 1: Nick Briant
Assistant Ref 2: Pablo Deluca
TMO: Santiago Borsani
Teams
Jaguares
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Tomás Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Marcos Kremer, 3 Felipe Arregui, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Santiago García Botta.
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Ignacio Larrague, 21 Javier Ortega Desio, 22 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Bautista Ezcurra.
Cheetahs
15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Michael van der Spuy, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Ruan van Rensburg, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Henco Venter, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Elandré Huggett, 1 Danie Mienie.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Johan Coetzee, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Paul Schoeman, 21 William Small-Smith/Johannes Prinsloo, 22 Shaun Venter, 23 Fred Zeilinga.
Follow @KaylanGeekie on Twitter
