The Jaguares fought back to dismantle the Reds 43-27 on a warm evening at Estadio Jose Amalfitani, Buenos Aires.
The Jaguares demolished the Queensland Reds’ pack, fighting back from a 12-24 down at halftime before the South American’s forward pack dismantled the Australian’s to win the game.
Jaguares captain Julian Montoya scored a hat-trick from powerful driving mauls as the Reds crumbled in the final quarter.
Los Jaguares overturned a 12-point halftime deficit, scoring 31 points to three after the break as they romped to victory.
Emiliano Boffelli, replacement hooker Santiago Socino, and Tomas Cubelli also crossed for the home team.
Tate McDermott, Liam Wright, who was sin-binned in the second half, and Chris Feauai-Sautia, who grabbed a brace, all dotted down in the first 40 minutes for the visitors.
The Reds could only muster three second-half points as they wilted under the pressure of their host’s forward domination.
It was a masterclass in forwards-play and an exhibition in driving and rolling mauls from Gonzalo Quesada’s charges.
The victory gets last season’s Super Rugby runners-up back on track with their second win in three games.
Super Rugby Video Highlights: Jaguares versus Reds, Estadio Jose Amalfitani, Buenos Aires
It is also the Argentinian’s seventh win on the bounce against Australian opposition, and their tenth in their last 11 matches.
Defeat, on the other hand, is the third in a row for the tourists, who faded badly in two of their losses, this campaign.
The Reds dominate an entertaining first half but the Jaguares fightback early in the second period
Queensland took a deserved 12-point lead into the shed after three tries in ten minutes of the middle period of the half.
Tries by McDermott, Wright, Feauai-Sautia’s double all came before the interval.
The Reds went 12 phases into the Jaguares’ 22 before Domingo Miotti fell for James O’Connor’s dummy, allowing the stand-off to break free and send McDermott over.
Queensland controlled this period of the game, scoring again.
Henry Speight charged down the sideline, stepped inside a defender and offloaded a sumptuous chicken-wing pass out the back door to the supporting Wright.
The captain swerved around Santiago Carreras and scored next to the posts.
The Jaguares stayed in contention through their power game, which led to scores for Montoya and Boffelli after a pin-point cross-field kick-pass by Miotti after the hooter.
Montoya dotted down for his first after the pack finally got their maul going, and after another series of a lineout, maul, lineout, maul, the hosts managed another score.
Quesada’s team-talk worked a treat as the home side came out firing, scoring 10 points in eight minutes of the restart to make it 22-24.
A high tackle from McDermott led to an attacking lineout inside the visitor’s 22.
Jaguares pack start firing
The Jaguares went to their driving maul and bulldozed their way over from 15 metres out for Montoya’s second try.
Feauai-Sautia scored in the corner after a break and offload by Campbell. The winger used the two-on-one to his advantage to increase his team’s lead.
The 26-year-old had his second after Paisami’s sublime linebreak from midfield set-up Taniela Tupou, who was tackled short of the posts by Matias Moroni.
The Reds quickly recycled the ball to the wing, who walked over to score on 36 minutes to up 7-24.
But the home team struck at the end of the half.
The Jaguares had a penalty-advantage, the ball went to Miotti, who put an accurate cross-kick to Boffelli.
The winger was challenged in the air by Jock Campbell. The Queensland fullback knocked the ball forward but Boffelli gathered the ball and touched down.
Momentum began to build, the Jaguares’ pack found their mojo
Miotti’s penalty, a few minutes later, reduced the deficit; his team with all the momentum had found their mojo.
Hunter Paisami, having a great game, went close again, but was ankle-tapped with the try-line in sight.
The Reds won a penalty which Campbell knocked over to earn his side some points for their pressure.
O’Connor went close before the hour, almost dancing his way over, but the flyhalf lost the ball in the act of grounding.
Good defending turned into attack, for the hosts. They went down the field, winning multiple penalties, which they kicked to the corner.
A couple of dominant driving mauls ended with Wright getting a yellow card for repeated infringements in the red zone.
The Jaguares went to their lineout and demolished the Reds’ pack. Montoya flopped over for his treble to level scores.
Brad Thorn’s men were reeling, being taken apart by a juggernaut, a performance of superiority not seen since the great Bulls teams of a decade ago or last season’s Brumbies.
Two more tries in the last 12 minutes killed the game
The same thing happened minutes later when another superb driving maul ended with reserve hooker Santiago Socino crashed over the chalk to extend his side’s lead.
Cubelli scored after a counter-attack inside the Reds’ half, taking Boffelli’s pass, cutting inside a couple of defenders to end the game as a contest.
Tomas Albornoz took over kicking duties from Miotti and made no mistake.
It did not matter because the game was good and done.
Final Score: Jaguares 43 (12) Reds 27 (24)
Scorers
Jaguares
Tries – J. Montoya (3), Boffelli, Socino, Cubelli
Pen – Miotti
Con – Miotti (4), Albornoz,
Drop –
Cards –
Reds
Tries – McDermott, L. Wright, Feauai-Sautia (2)
Pen – Campbell
Con – Campbell (2)
Drop –
Cards – Wright (Yellow, 63′)
Match Officials
Referee: Federico Anselmi
Assistant Ref 1: Pablo Deluca
Assistant Ref 2: Martin Cordoba
TMO: Santiago Borsani
Teams
Jaguares
Head Coach: Gonzalo Quesada
15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente (captain), 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Rodrigo Buni, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Tomas Lezana, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Javier Diaz, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Santiago Chocobares.
Reds
Head Coach: Brad Thorn
15 Jock Campbell, 14 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 13 Hunter Paisami, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Henry Speight, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Liam Wright (captain), 6 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Angus Blyth, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Alex Mafi, 1 Jean-Pierre Smith.
Replacements: 16 Sean Farrell, 17 Dane Zander, 18 Josh Nasser, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Moses Sorovi, 22 Isaac Lucas, 23 Bryce Hegarty.
