Julian Montoya scored a hat-trick as the Jaguares registered a 43-27 comeback win against the Reds in Buenos Aires on Sunday.
The Reds were brilliant in the first half and were full value for their 12-point lead at the break, but they relinquished their dominance and their advantage in the second half. But the result has been marred with controversy, after hometown referee Federico Anselmi penalised the Reds 14 times and the Jaguares only three times.
The Reds raced out to a 14-nil lead after 20 minutes then went into the break 24-12 up, thanks to tries from Tate McDermott, Liam Wright and Chris Feauai-Sautia.
But their discipline evaporated in the second half as they conceded eight penalties to let the Jaguares back into the game.
The hosts fought back to get within two on the scoreboard, but a penalty saw the Reds push out their lead to five again. However, that would serve as their last scoring act before the Jaguares seized control.
Heading into the last quarter, the Jaguares trailed 27-22, but the match turned in the 63rd minute when opposing captain Liam Wright was shown a yellow card. The home side ran in three tries while he was off the field to effectively end the match as a contest and consign the Reds to a third straight defeat.
Jaguares – Tries: Julian Montoya (3), Emiliano Boffelli, Santiago Socino, Tomas Cubelli. Conversions: Domingo Miotti (4), Tomas Albornoz. Penalty: Miotti.
Reds – Tries: Tate McDermott, Laim Wright, Chris Feauai Sautia. Conversion: Jock Campbell. Penalty: Campbell.
Jaguares – 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matiás Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (c), 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Tomás Lezana, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Subs: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Javier Diaz, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía.
Reds – 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 (c), 6 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Angus Blyth, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Alex Mafi, 1 JP Smith.
Subs: 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.
Photo: @JaguaresARG/Twitter
