The Lions showed immense character to rally at the death of their match against the determined Jaguares and snatch a 24-21 victory from the jaws of defeat.
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The Lions struggled to get their game going and only drew level with seven minutes to go before sneaking the win.
The Argentineans had a dream start when from the kick-off, four minutes of patient pressure on the Lions line eventually saw outside centre Matias Orlando burst over for a fine try, converted by Nicolas Sanchez.
The Lions were stung into action and a number of penalties kicked to the corner finally produced a gap for centre Harold Vorster to exploit. Elton Jantjies levelled the scores.
The Lions continued their policy of turning down kicks at goal and the ill-disciplined Jaguares found themselves pinned in their half doing most of the defending, and the gaps came. Outside centre Lionel Mapoe slipped through the tired defence in the 22nd minute and sold a few dummies on the way to a brilliant individual try.
The visitors would have been pleased to have been just seven points adrift at halftime given the number of opportunities the Lions had had.
But the visitors knew they were in the game and came out firing and deservedly scored the first points of the half when flank Rodrigo Baez crashed over from close range in the 48th minute, the conversion levelling matters at 14-14.
And the Lions were rocked a few minutes later when a strong build-up of phases after a Lions error in the Jaguares half resulted in lock Guido Petti completing a fine team try, and a touchline conversion from Sanchez made it 21-14.
It got worse for the Lions when Vorster was sin-binned for a professional foul in the 55th minute.
Coach Johan Ackermann emptied his bench at that point in an attempt to change the momentum of a game the Argentineans were now dominating.
The Lions were clearly rattled and had to dig deep as the game entered the final ten minutes. An Andries Coetzee break out from the halfway line put Ruan Ackerman into space and the young flank scampered home for a 73rd minute try and Jantjies’ conversion levelled the scores at 21-21.
A huge Lions scrum five minutes from time won them a penalty and Jantjies had the BMT to put his side three points ahead with three minutes to go, and they hung on for the win.
