Key events
17m ago
Summary
1h ago
Full-time: Australia 26-28 Argentina
1h ago
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 26-28 Argentina (Daugunu, 79)
1h ago
TRY! Australia 19-28 (Daugunu, 68)
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CONVERTED TRY! Australia 14-28 Argentina (Kellaway, 67)
1h ago
Yellow Card! S Carreras (Argentina)
1h ago
Penalty! Australia 7-28 Argentina (Carreras, 64)
2h ago
Penalty! Australia 7-25 Argentina (Carreras, 53)
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Penalty! Australia 7-22 Argentina (Carreras, 44)
2h ago
Half-time: Australia 7-19 Argentina
2h ago
Penalty! Australia 7-19 Argentina (Carreras, 38)
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Penalty! Australia 7-16 Argentina (Carreras, 26)
3h ago
Yellow Card! Jorgensen (Australia)
3h ago
Penalty! Australia 7-13 Argentina (Carreras, 14)
3h ago
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-10 Argentina (Montoya, 9)
3h ago
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-3 Argentina (Sua’ali’i, 5)
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Penalty! Australia 0-3 Argentina (Carreras, 4)
3h ago
Kick-off!
3h ago
Argentina XV
3h ago
Australia XV
4h ago
Preamble
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Summary
Jonathan Howcroft
Thank you all for joining me today for another grandstand finish in what is becoming a habit for the Wallabies. This time it was Argentina who prevailed at the death, and you can read more about how they did so here, with Angus Fontaine’s match report. Stay tuned for more during the week, and feel free to join me back here in a fortnight when Australia take on the All Blacks at Eden Park.
Both teams now have a week off before The Rugby Championship reaches its conclusion.
The Wallabies take on the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup double-header, first at the Eden Park graveyard, then in Perth. The Pumas travel to Durban to challenge South Africa, then they face the Springboks at the unlikely destination of Twickenham.
If New Zealand beat South Africa this evening in Wellington they will be strong favourites to win the competition. But if the Springboks force an upset all four teams will enter the final pair of matches with two wins and two losses apiece.
“Penalties, the bane of rugby!” exclaims Paul Hulsebosch. “Anything within or just outside the 50m line is kickable these days. Congratulations to the kickers, well done, good on you, great, you have excelled. It’s not good for Rugby though with three points a kick. I’m not a sore loser, just being realistic. Tries are what rugby is all about. Lineouts and scrums – at least in my day – but nowadays it’s all about penalty kicks. How about a single point for a successful kick?”
I absolutely accept the point about the relative value of penalties (the obvious comparison being rugby league where the tariff is only two points) but I would counter that the international game has never been more attacking and that a commitment to try-scoring has never been more evident.
The difficulty with it all is how contentious the breakdown has become with different referees from different hemispheres interpreting the contact differently resulting in confusion amongst players and observers.
“How was that last try given?” asks an incredulous Andrew Sparrow. “The most obvious forward pass you’ll ever see. I can see how the ref might miss it, but what was the TMO doing?” I agree Andrew, it looked forward out of the hand to me, and very forward on reception. I’m glad it didn’t have a bearing on the result.
The celebrations continue as the immense Julio Montoya is presented with the bronze Puma Trophy.
Beautiful scenes in Sydney as fans are invited onto the Allianz Stadium turf. The Pumas players are instantly swamped by visiting supporters in a raucous mosh pit of blue and white.
“We didn’t lose that game because of the ref,” asserts Tate McDermott under questioning about the performance of the referee from the host broadcaster, “we lost it because of our ill-discipline in contact at the breakdown.”
Improbably, despite being on the backfoot for most of the day, Australia outscored Argentina four tries to one. However, they conceded 13 penalties to Argentina’s five, and Santi Carreras kicked 8/8 from the tee.
Although for the most part Australia’s performance didn’t live up to it, the crowd in Sydney today was phenomenal. A full house for a Test against Argentina is not to be sniffed at, there was plenty of noise throughout, and an audible knot of visiting fans added plenty of energy.
As game as Australia were at the death, Argentina thoroughly deserved their victory. They are evenly matched sides and a 1-1 result from their mini-tour is a fair outcome. Their battle for sixth spot on World Rugby’s rankings is going to go to the wire ahead of December’s World Cup cut-off.
They don’t do simple, the Wallabies, do they? Poor for 65 minutes, they still managed to find a grandstand finish to turn a humdrum defeat into a valiant contest.
Updated at 02.14 EDT
Full-time: Australia 26-28 Argentina
Australia try to expand to the left. Sua’ali’i’s pass leaves Jorgensen too much work to do. He’s mauled on by a pack of Argentinians. The penalty is theirs – as is victory!
80+1 mins: Nine phases, still inside the 22…
80 mins: Australia secure the restart then, as the siren sounds, try to keep the ball alive on their 22…
ShareCONVERTED TRY! Australia 26-28 Argentina (Daugunu, 79)
Australia win the lineout and cut infield. 20m out, where can they go? Back to the left, through hands, and it’s clearly forward out of Kellaway’s hands to Daugunu, who runs over in the corner. Even the cheerleaders on the TV can’t believe it’s been given! “That looked bad” is the verdict.
O’Connor makes it a two point game.
78 mins: Play resumes at pace with Australia hurtling into the contest, but it’s too fast and helter-skelter and the ball goes to ground. But there’s a Deus ex machina as an earlier high tackle is called by the TMO and the Wallabies can kick downfield to the left!
77 mins: It gets to phase six then Tizzano wins the breakdown contest and Australia have three minutes to rescue something.
77 mins: Scrum on halfway to Argentina. It wheels around but holds long enough for the Pumas to exit to the right and start grinding through the phases in tight to milk the clock.
76 mins: It’s 15 v 15 again as Australia try to build on halfway though O’Connor. It’s Sevens-style stuff from the Wallabies to keep the ball alive but there’s one tip-pass too many and the ball is knocked forward by McReight. It seems clearly knocked forward by the backrower, called uncontroversially by the touch judge, but the cheerleading on TV does its best to gaslight us that it was some enormous travesty of justice.
75 mins: Brilliant from Mallia! McDermott kicks a rare beauty ahead for the Wallabies that Jorgensen almost gets onto. The Argentina fullback is there first though before he’s flattened by the Australian winger. Still, he manages to offload to a teammate and the Pumas kick clear.
74 mins: Scrum penalty Australia and the Wallabies streak clear on the right. Argentina repel them at halfway and the phase work begins infield but the Pumas lay a couple of msasive hits and put their hosts on the back foot.
74 mins: Argentina appear to win their lineout ball 30m from Australia’s line but the ball comes free on the way down and Australia have a scrum feed.
73 mins: Australia secure their own scrum 5m out and try to break through Tizzano. They make little ground so Jorgensen and Nonggorr accept slow phase contact in tight before McDermott clears to touch.
72 mins: The Pumas delayed their decision following the award of the penalty, then dawdled their way to the lineout. Once their they form a maul and threaten to drive over – but Williams goes from villain to hero – wrestling back possession just inches from the line!
Argentina have four minutes left to defend with 14 men.
70 mins: Australia accept the restart and try to run their way out of their 22 with the man advantage. They reach the 30m mark before McDermott box kicks. Jorgensen steams through but Argentina take a superb contested mark on halfway. That was clinch. Now the Pumas box kick and win an obstruction penalty against Williams for shepherding the chasing winger. The penalty is awarded by the touch judge. Argentina kick to the left corner.
ShareTRY! Australia 19-28 (Daugunu, 68)
THIS IS MAD! Sua’ali’i again to the fore, this time finding the cute pass on the inside before returning as the support runner. The ruck is swift and in the blink of an eye Daugunu has 50m to run into after sidestepping Isgro on the touchline! He burns the turf as dives over in the corner to make it two tries in two minutes! Allianz Stadium is on fire!
O’Connor hooks the touchline conversion attempt narrowly wide.
ShareCONVERTED TRY! Australia 14-28 Argentina (Kellaway, 67)
Australia continue to pound their way into Argentina inside their 22. Is this the start of another late comeback? It might be you know! Play doesn’t seem to be going anywhere until the Wallabies go through hands to the left and Sua’ali’i is like a magician, accepting possession then offloading to Kellaway to dash through the line unopposed! Brilliant hands.
O’Connor can’t miss the conversion from under the crossbar.
ShareYellow Card! S Carreras (Argentina)
66 mins: Kellaway makes a dash through the line and the Wallabies belatedly have attacking field position! Play slows as it reaches the 22, then a pass out wide is knocked down by Santi Carreras and, like Jorgensen in the first half, he has to go to the bin!
SharePenalty! Australia 7-28 Argentina (Carreras, 64)
The lead grows to three converted tries as Carreras strokes over yet another penalty.
63 mins: This has been a game littered with skill errors, especially off the boot. From the latest Argentina run the ball back into contact and earn a penalty for Wilson obstructing at the breakdown. Of course, the old boys on the telly are furious because the referee allegedly ignored similar infringements in the first half by Argentina. Their endless cheerleading benefits nobody.
62 mins: McDermott is again busy, collecting the loose ball and darting back towards the touchline on the left near halfway. Out of room he has to hurl the ball infield but it lands in Argentinian hands. The visitors then work their way to the left and inside the 22. Salakaia-Loto makes a huge hit, stopping the attacking momentum, then McReight is quick to the breakdown to earn the penalty and the Wallabies can clear… but O’Connor doesn’t find touch. Sad face.
60 mins: The ball comes back Australia’s way so McDermott again goes to the short side, the left, where Wilson is the latest Wallaby to kick weirdly and Argentina can mop up. But then they cough up possession on halfway as they attempt to raid down the right only to find Toole in the way. It’s chaos out there with neither side establishing a defensive line and bodies from both sides seemingly offside. Eventually, much to the chagrin of the crowd, the mayhem ends with a Puma penalty.