Jaguares eye history after 7th straight triumph

BUNOS AIRES: Jaguares beat Western Stormers 25-14 in Buenos Aires Saturday for a seventh consecutive Super Rugby victory that boosted their chances of making the play-offs for the first time.

A fightback earned Coastal Sharks a 31-24 win over Golden Lions, ACT Brumbies upset Wellington Hurricanes 24-12 and Waikato Chiefs blew away Otago Highlanders 45-22.In another match, Sunwolves edged Northern Bulls 42-37 to notch three victories in a season for the first time.

After losing five of their first seven matches, a remarkable turnaround by the Argentine outfit continued with a routine win having led 15-7 at half-time.Matias Orlando scored 51 seconds into the second half to stretch the advantage and Stormers never looked like succeeding on the road for the first time this season. Jaguares are three points behind leaders Lions in the South African conference, but have two regular-season matches to play and the Johannesburg outfit only one.

Lions, runners-up in the past two seasons, deserved more than a 21-11 half-time lead having dominated possession and territory in Durban.After play-offs hopefuls Sharks levelled at 21-21 with 16 minutes left, Lions nudged ahead through an Elton Jantjies penalty. But Sharks finished stronger and an intercept try by Lwazi Mvovo gave them a lead which Super Rugby leading points scorer Robert du Preez increased via a conversion and penalty. “I was proud of my boys because they kept on fighting when we trailed and were starved of possession,” said Sharks skipper Ruan Botha. Lions captain Warren Whiteley, back after a long injury lay-off, said: “Sharks were the better team and we did not capitalise on our scoring opportunities.”

Brumbies ended a 13-match losing run against New Zealand sides and won their third straight game, fighting back from 12-5 down at half-time to claim victory in Canberra.Their first win against a New Zealand team since 2016 took Brumbies within six points of second-place Melbourne Rebels in the Australian conference.

The loss was Hurricanes’ third in a row and left title-holders Canterbury Crusaders nine points clear at the top of the New Zealand conference.“Really pleased with the effort of the team, a quality opposition that tested us all the way,” Brumbies skipper Christian Lealiifano said.

“We were probably guilty of kicking the ball away too much in the first half and when we held the ball we made some good metres.” Brumbies dominated the second half, keeping the ball in hand, and Fola Fainga’a, Rory Arnold and Andy Muirhead scored tries. “It was frustrating not to score in the second half and at the back end of the halves we need to play better footy,” Hurricanes skipper TJ Perenara admitted.

Liam Messam relived his glory days as Chiefs made best use of the wind to down Highlanders in a free-running spectacle in Fiji capital Suva.This game was settled in a one-sided first half as Chiefs, playing with the wind, put on 42 unanswered points. When Highlanders had the wind behind them in the second half, they maintained the frantic pace set by Chiefs and staged their own revival. But while they scored four tries and denied Chiefs a bonus point, it was not enough.

Throughout, it was Messam, 34, who was the influential figure as he wound back the clock to show the same power and ability to be in the right place that first brought him to the All Blacks’ attention in 2008.

“That was a classic encounter of how to play with the wind,” relieved Chiefs captain Sam Cane said, having chosen correctly at the toss. “We got it spot on in the first half and the ‘Landers played pretty sharp with it in the second half so we feel we were lucky we got enough in the first half to hold us in.” The win moved Chiefs past Highlanders to third in the New Zealand conference.

In Singapore, Sunwolves beat Bulls 42-37 in a closely fought match.With both sides struggling in the steamy humidity, Sunwolves pulled ahead early on with two tries but were quickly caught. After Bulls scored off three second-half penalties, Sunwolves dug deep with a series of tries that were converted by Hayden Parker to win the match. “We always knew it would be a tough physical game... so it came down to mental toughness,” Sunwolves’ South Africa-born captain Willie Britz said.