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Cape Town - The Jaguares made it six wins from their last seven games after an epic Super Rugby battle against the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium ended 23-15 in the Argentines' favour.
Waratahs head coach Daryl Gibson said before the match that playing against the Jaguares was basically like playing a test match because of all the internationals in their lineup, and the Australian side clearly set up to play this one like an international.
They got ahold of the ball early and dominated possession but did not take many risks going forward, instead focusing on recycling the ball and going through the phases as they stamped their mark on the game.
The visitors only put up with this for about 10 or so minutes, though, and pounced on a Michael Hooper error to begin a 12-phase assault on the Waratahs line that would end in failure.
They weren't done, however, with their back three combination of Emiliano Boffelli, Santiago Carreras and Matias Orlando looking particularly dangerous with ball in hand.
For the most part, the Waratahs defended very well, but the tackle count was beginning to climb and there's only so much punishment a defensive line can take.
The fatal moment came in the 26th minute - with the tackle count for the home side already exceeding 80 - when the Jaguares caught them off guard with a quickly recycled ball going left.
The scrambling defense was then left chasing their tails as Jeronimo de la Fuente poked through a grubber kick for Ramiro Moyano and he beat both Kurtley Beale and Alex Newsome to dot down for the game's first try, before Domingo Miotti added the extras.
The visitors continued to press and ended the first half with 60% possession, 73% territory and having forced over a hundred tackles from their hosts.
The only place they weren't running away with the game was where it mattered, on the scoreboard. Bernard Foley and Miotti exchanging penalties meant the score was 10-3 to the Argentines at the break.
The Waratahs began the second period with renewed vigour and dominated the early play in much the same way that they did in the first half.
They were cut short far earlier this time around though, with a poached breakdown ball launching a ranging counter-attack that saw the ball pass through the hands of six Jaguares players before Moyano went over for his second of the match and Miotti added the extras.
Then disaster struck for the visitors as Pablo Matera was penalised for collapsing a goalline-bound maul, resulting in a penalty try for the Waratahs and a 10-minute spell in the sin bin for himself.
The home side pounced on their numerical advantage and thought they had pulled a try back in the 61st minute when Nick Phipps wriggled his way over the line, but replays showed his foot was in touch and it was correctly disallowed.
They would get their points just four minutes later though after Hooper did brilliantly to draw in two defenders before offloading for Curtis Rona to go over in the corner and get to within two points of the Jaguares.
Unfortunately for the home fans, that was pretty much where the tale ended. The return of Matera from the sin bin saw the Argentines shut up their defense in very effective fashion and they were even able to add to their lead through two late Joaquin Diaz Bonilla penalties to run out 23-15 winners.
Scorers:
Waratahs 15 (3)
Tries: Penalty Try, Curtis Rona
Penalty: Bernard Foley
Jaguares 23 (10)
Tries: Ramiro Moyano (2)
Conversions: Domingo Miotti (2)
Penalties: Domingo Miotti, Joaquin Diaz Bonilla (2)
Teams:
Waratahs
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Alex Newsome, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Karmichael Hunt, 11 Cam Clark, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Michael Wells, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Lachlan Swinton, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Ned Hanigan, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 1 Tom Robertson
Substitutes: 16 Andrew Tuala, 17 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 18 Chris Talakai, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Will Miller, 21 Jake Gordon, 22 Lalakai Foketi, 23 Curtis Rona
Jaguares
15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Santiago Carreras, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (captain), 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Tomás Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Substitutes: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Juan Manual Leguizamon, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Joaquin Diaz Bonilla, 23 Matias Moroni
