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Lions vs Jaguares: Super Rugby quarter-finals live blog, scores

21st July, 2018
Where: Ellis Park, Johannesburg
When: 11:05pm (AEST)
TV: Fox Sports
Betting: Lions $1.27, Jaguares $3.75

Lions
15 Andries Coetzee
14 Ruan Combrinck
13 Lionel Mapoe
12 Harold Vorster
11 Aphiwe Dyantyi
10 Elton Jantjies
9 Ross Cronjé
8 Warren Whiteley (c)
7 Cyle Brink
6 Kwagga Smith
5 Franco Mostert
4 Marvin Orie
3 Ruan Dreyer
2 Malcolm Marx
1 Jacques van Rooyen

16 Corne Fourie
17 Dylan Smith
18 Johannes Jonker
19 Lourens Erasmus
20 Marnus Schoeman
21 Dillon Smit
22 Courtnall Skosan
23 Howard Mnisi

Jaguares
15 Emiliano Boffelli
14 Bautista Delguy
13 Matias Orlando
12 Jeronimo de le Fuente
11 Matias Moroni
10 Nicolas Sanchez
9 Gonzalo Bertranou
8 Javier Ortega Desio
7 Tomas Lezana
6 Pablo Matera (c)
5 Marcos Kremer
4 Guido Petti
3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
2 Agustin Creevy
1 Santiago Garcia Botta

16 Julian Montoya
17 Juan Pablo Zeiss
18 Santiago Medrano
19 Matias Alemanno
20 Tomas Lavanini
21 Juan Manuel Leguizamon
22 Martin Landajo
23 Sebastian Cancelliere

Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Egon Seconds
TMO: Marius Jonker
Kwagga Smith is swarmed by his Lions teammates in celebration. (Photo by Gallo Images)
Expert
21st July, 2018
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The Lions will host the traveling Jaguares in the fourth and last quarter-final of the 2018 Super Rugby competition in Johannesburg. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 11:05pm (AEST).

These two have had some great clashes over the past few years and never one with such high stakes

The Lions are looking to reach their third consecutive semi-final and, with home advantage and the better form, will really fancy their chances. Given their relatively poorer performance this season, a semi-final would be a good achievement.

The team from Johannesburg haven’t reached the same levels of previous seasons and have had to fight very hard against an impressive Jaguares team to claim the No. 1 spot in the South African conference. But claim it they did, and they will look to key players Elton Jantjies and Malcolm Marx to have big games against the Argentinians.

Marx especially will want to stamp his authority on a Jaguares pack that has caused many sides real problems this year.

For Jantjies, he might be feeling his future is more about potential success in Super Rugby rather than success at Springbok level. He’s never really been able to make the ‘Boks No. 10 shirt his own despite impressive club form and, in the third test against England back in June, he again failed to live up to expectations.

This, however, could make him even more dangerous for the Jaguares defence as he’ll be wanting to bounce back with a class performance in this knockout game.

The Jaguares have had their best season by far this year in Super Rugby and have picked up a number of good wins.

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Weirdly, the Pumas have not replicated this form which is very strange as they are basically the Jags in different shirts – but that’s another article.

In this match, coach Mario Ledesma is bringing back a number of players who he rested last week. While this meant that the teams’ overall momentum stumbled a bit with a loss last week, it will be interesting to see if this rest gives some key players the extra bit of energy they need at the end of a hard season.

Prediction
The Jaguares have not been able to win on South African soil this season, so it will take a great effort from them to get themselves into their first ever semi final. The Lions are the bookies favorites but there’s an upset in the thinner air of Ellis Park.

Jaguares by 3

Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 11:05pm (AEST) on Saturday.

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