Buenos Aires - Argentine side the Jaguares spectacularly snapped a seven-match Super Rugby losing streak Saturday by crushing the struggling Southern Kings 73-27 in Buenos Aires.
The South Americans scored 11 tries as they gained their second win of a maiden season in the southern hemisphere franchise championship, and a first at home.
Loose forward Leonardo Senatore led the way with a hat-trick of tries while flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez, leading scorer at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, converted nine while another hit a post.
"It was good to win playing good rugby," said scrumhalf Martin Landajo, one of many Argentine internationals in the Jaguares squad.
"This is a long tournament and we have some catching up to do.
"Our ambitions include getting the ball wide and it worked sometimes tonight -- on other occasions we were not successful."
Jaguares are third in the Africa 2 conference standings, 15 points behind the Golden Lions and eight above the Kings who languish at the bottom with just four points from eight matches.
Back in the competition after a two-year absence and the weakest of the six South African sides, Kings were in trouble from the start, conceding a try after 72 seconds.
Veteran centre Juan Martin Hernandez, one of several stars who left European clubs to play for the Jaguares, grabbed his own kick ahead and dotted down.
A penalty from Kings flyhalf Elgar Watts offered a brief respite for the Port Elizabeth-based outfit before winger Santiago Cordero scored a second home try on nine minutes.
Senatore got his first, and the third of the match, on 15 minutes.
The Jaguares averaged a point a minute in the opening half at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani to turn around 40-15 ahead.
Kings' woes increased just a minute into the second half when winger Luzuko Vulindlu was sin-binned for a dangerous challenge.
Having scored 68 points with 16 minutes to go, the Jaguares looked capable of beating the season-best 92 of the Cheetahs against the Sunwolves.
But they managed only one more try, leaving the Kings to score one of the best of the match as skipper and lock Steven Sykes finished off a sweeping movement.
Scorers
Jaguares:
Tries: Hernandez, Cordero, Senatore (3), Sánchez, Creevy, Montero, Alemanno, Boffelli, Landajo
Conversions: Sanchez 9
Kings:
Tries: Cloete, Watermeyer, Bholi
Conversions: Watts (2)
Penalty: Watts
Yellow card: Vulindlu (41 mins) - dangerous tackle
Jaguares
15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Tomás Lezana, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Santiago García Botta
Replacements
16 Julián Montoya, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Jerónimo De La Fuente, 23 Lucas González Amorosino
Kings
15 Jaco van Tonder, 14 Lukhanyo Am, 13 Stefan Watermeyer, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Luzuko Vulindlu, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Ntando Kebe, 8 CJ Velleman, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 JC Astle, 4 Steven Sykes (c), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Replacements
16 Martin Ferreira, 17 Justin Ackerman, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Stefan Willemse, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 James Hall, 22 Louis Fouche, 23 Leighton Eksteen