The Stormers earned back to back victories by beating the Jaguares 8-13 at Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires.
The match was the Jaguares second Super Rugby match at their home venue and after winning their opening match in South Africa they are still winless at home.
The Jaguares had several opportunities to increase their points tally but Nicolas Sanchez and his replacement kicker Santiago González Iglesias both missed shots at goal.
It was the first appearance in Argentina by a South African franchise in the expanded Super Rugby competition.
All the points were scored in the first half and in the end, a penalty and a conversion accounted for the five-point difference on the Stormers’ winning scoreline.
The Stormers imposed themselves on the match from the outset and this was much the case for most of the first half when they forced to their Argentinian hosts to settle for a largely defensive role.
The scores in the opening 20 minutes came by way of penalties from the flyhalves Kurt Coleman (2) for the Stormers against a lone strike by Nicolás Sánchez for the Jaguares (6-3).
In the 22nd minute, Sánchez was yellow-carded for a breakdown infringement and the Stormers wasted no time in taking advantage of the one-man advantage a minute later with a try by fullback Cheslin Kolbe who twinkle-toed his way past five would-be tacklers. Coleman’s conversion was on target (13-3).
The Stormers followed up with more pressure spells on the back of a solid scrummaging performance but failed to capitalise although leftwing Leolin Zas came close on two occasions.
Jaguares leftwing Lucas González Amorosino who had moved into the flyhalf role in Sánchez’s absence managed to spark several attacks and the Stormers’ defence was forced into all-out action.
They thwarted one attack after the other just ahead of the halftime break but moments after the hooter sounded the Jaguares made the breakthrough when centre Jerónimo de la Fuente ran in for an unconverted try (13-8).
The Jaguares suffered bad luck in the opening minute of the second half when they ran the ball up down the middle with a powerful surge by their forwards. The effort was worth a try but flank Tomás Lezana lost the ball as he steamrolled his way over under the Stormers posts as a try-saving tackle by prop Frans Malherbe caused the ball to be dislodged.
The burly tighthead Malherbe had one of the highest tackle counts in the match.
The Stormers remained under the cosh for a while but they saw off the onslaught effectively as the Jaguares failed to round off a spate of promising sorties in the opposition half.
The stout defensive effort seemed to provide the Stormers’ game with a lift and they managed to wrest the initiative although they too could not find a way past the Jaguares defence despite enjoying a decided territorial advantage.
The introduction of fresh legs from both substitutes benches raised the tempo of the game just after the hour mark but neither try line was threatened as attacks broke down on the fringes of the 22m lines. The Jaguares, though, looked more threatening with ball in hand.
By this time the Jaguares had failed to take the lead after Sánchez and later his replacement Santiago González Iglesias failed to goal two kickable penalties in the later stages of the second half.
By the time New Zealand referee Chris Pollock sounded the final whistle neither side were able to add to their first-half scores.
Next week the Stormers have a bye while the Jaguares travel to New Zealand where they will play the Blues in Albany.
Final Score Jaguares 8 (8) Stormers 13 (13)
Scorers
Jaguares
Tries -J, de la Fuente
Pen – N.Sanchez
Con –
Drop –
Cards – N.Sanchez (21st min yellow)
Stormers
Tries – C.Kolbe
Pen – K.Coleman 2
Con – K.Coleman
Drop –
Cards –
Match Officials
Referee: Chris Pollock
Assistant Ref 1:Jamie Nutbrown
Assistant Ref 2:Federico Anselmi
TMO : Santiago Borasni
Teams
Jaguares
1- Santiago García Botta, 2- Agustín Creevy (C), 3-Felipe Arregui , 4-Matías Alemanno, 5- Tomas Lavannini , 6- Pablo Matera, 7-Tomas Lezana, 8-Leonardo Senatore 9- Martín Landajo, 10- Nicolás Sánchez, 11-Lucas Amarosino 12-Jeronimo de la Fuente, 13- Matías Moroni , 14-Matias Orlando, 15- Jaoquin Tuculet
Replacements : 16- Julián Montoya, 17-Roberto Tejerizo, 18-Enrique Pieretto, 19-Guido Petti, 20- Facundo Isa, 21-Gonzalo Bertranou, 22- Santiago González Iglesias, 23- Santiago Cordero
Stormers
15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Juan de Jongh (co-captain), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe (co-captain), 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Jan de Klerk, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Huw Jones.