Jaguares Super Rugby season preview

In their debut Super Rugby season, the Jaguares have quickly emerged as many people’s dark horses to lift the title.

Unlike the Australian, New Zealand and South African franchises which share the talent of their country’s player pool relatively equally, the Jaguares are the Argentinean national team in all but name.

A few veteran Pumas, such as Marcos Ayerza and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, have opted to stay in Europe, clearly thinking that their time with the national team will likely be done by the time the 2019 Rugby World Cup rolls around, but the majority of the squad which so impressed for Argentina at last year’s RWC have been recruited. As stands, 22 of the 33 (66%) selected by Daniel Hourcade for that tournament are signed up to represent the Jaguares this year.

Their conference has also been highlighted as another reason for optimism for the fledgling side. The Africa 2 sub-conference also plays host to the Kings, Lions and Sharks.

The Kings have faced all manner of problems in the build-up to their return to Super Rugby and as a result have a roster lacking both quality and depth. The Lions were impressive last season and the Sharks will struggle to be as ineffective as they were in 2015, and both sides should prove a much sterner test for the Jaguares. These sides will play each other home and away over the course of the season.

The Jaguares will also have to contend with the Cheetahs (A), Stormers (H), Sunwolves (A) and Bulls (H) from the Africa 1 conference. Whilst trips to Bloemfontein and Tokyo will not be easy for the Argentineans, they have won the fixture lottery this year, hosting the more formidable Stormers and Bulls in Buenos Aires.

Based on the Africa conference games, the Jaguares look to be good value to make the playoffs. To do this, they will either need to top the Africa 2 sub-conference or be the best runner-up across the two African sub-conferences.

Working against the Jaguares will be the fact that the Africa 2 teams will take on the New Zealand franchises this season, rather than the Australian teams that the Stormers and Bulls will face in Africa 1. The Chiefs and Highlanders will make the trip to Buenos Aires in Rounds 4 and 16 respectively, whilst the Blues, Hurricanes and Crusaders will all have to be contended with in New Zealand in Rounds 6 through 8, on a four-week tour which will culminate in Tokyo with a game against the Sunwolves.

Herein lies the biggest problem facing the Jaguares. Not only are eight of their 15 regular season games away from the home, they are also on completely different continents in different hemispheres. There are no short, local away games as the teams in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will face and the Argentineans will find themselves on planes and tours for large swathes of the season.

Given that the Argentinean national team has to travel to entirely different continents to face Tier 1 opposition as is, many of the players will be used to the lengthy travel but the regularity of those trips will be new to all of them. If the players can get past the mental and physical fatigue that that will cause, then there’s no reason why the Jaguares can’t at least make the playoffs in their debut season.

There are few doubts as to how the side will perform in Buenos Aires, but ensuring they adapt quickly to the rigours of touring will be key. If the Jaguares can take advantage of away trips against teams which, on paper, look relatively weak this season (Kings, Cheetahs, Sunwolves), then their prospects for the 2016 season look particularly healthy.