Right on cue, the Argentines are shown a yellow card of their own and within seconds, Suaalii’s surgeon’s knife probed through weakness again, slicing through and put fullback Andrew Kellaway over under the sticks. We’ve closed to 28-14!
Two minutes later, Suaalii does it AGAIN, breaking through on the left to release winger Filipo Daugunu, who goes over the in the corner. Unconverted, the score stood at 28-19, and we all took it back. Maybe there is a God, after all!
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was a constant threat.Credit: Getty Images
At this point, it seemed obvious to this little black duck, at least, that the go was to take a leaf out of the book of the little Kiwi boy who once sent a fax to the All Blacks on the eve of the World Cup Final of 1995, saying: “Remember, rugby is a team game, so all 14 of yers pass the ball to Jonah!” In this case, with the Pumas still missing a man in the backs and Suaalii on fire, the go was to get the ball to “His-name-is-Su.”
Instead, unaccountably, halfback Tate McDermott – who is normally fantastic in the second half darting from the base – tried a couple of box-kicks, neither of which worked. Get thee behind me, Devil!
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Still, again the Lord smiled, and with just two minutes left on the clock, Daugunu goes over once more in the corner after a little more slicing and dicing from Suaalii on the left. Converted, it gave the Wallabies – now down by just two points, 28-26 – just 30 seconds to work their magic.
All we needed to do was get the ball from the kick-off, avoid errors, work our way downfield and either win a kickable penalty or go over for another last-gasp winner.
And they tried, they really, really tried. For well over a minute, they kept the ball in hand, despite fierce hammerings from the visitors, until, right on full-time, in extremis, something had to give. Alas, instead of the Argentine defence, it was the Wallabies’ sang-froid, and the ball was spilled.
Game over. Victory to the Pumas, 28-26.
Oh, what might have been!
Despite the disappointment, it confirmed the news of this wonderful international season: the Wallabies are indeed a very good side, and scored four tries to one, exhibiting some wonderful play throughout. But Argentina, too, have genuinely arrived on the international rugby stage and are not only fabulous competitors, but play the game in the spirit was intended. Bravo the lot of them.
For the Wallabies, onwards to the All Blacks in a fortnight!
Watch all the action from the 2025 Rugby Championship on Stan Sport.