The great escape: Australia come from behind to down Pumas
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Argentina stood on the brink of a remarkable first victory in the Rugby Championship before Australia rallied to prevail 23-19 on Saturday.
The Pumas looked on course for a famous win after two quick-fire tries saw the tournament newcomers lead 19-6 with just over a quarter of the match remaining.
However, the Wallabies showed superb composure and scored 17 unanswered points to hit the front and deny the South Americans who once again proved to be mighty tough opponents.
Ruthless and relentless, the unforgiving Argentineans pounded the shell-shocked Wallabies for 59 minutes before tries by Pat McCabe and Digby Ioane edged them in front.
A late Kurtley Beale penalty gave the hosts some breathing space, before the Wallabies were forced to defend their line in the dying stages to avert what would have been an embarrassing defeat.
The Pumas powered their way to a deserved 6-3 lead at half-time after Argentina pivot Juan Martin Hernandez and Australia centre Berrick Barnes traded penalties in a tense first-half. The Wallabies could've hit the front before the break had number eight Radike Samo not lost the ball when diving over the line.
Barnes made it six apiece from right in front eight minutes into the second-half, but it didn't get any easier for Australia when Tomas Leonardi charged down Quade Cooper's kick for a opportunistic try.
The Pumas looked to have delivered the knock-out blow when two minutes later, replacement Juan Imhoff sprinted along the touchline before passing inside to Julio Faras Cabello for a sensational score and an upset looked on the cards.
Hernandez missed the conversion from far out, leaving the score at 16-6, but made no mistake with a penalty to extend his side's lead to 13 points over the Wallabies.
Australia's reply finally came on the hour when sustained pressure finally broke down the Argentine defence and McCabe charged in from close range.
Barnes struck a simple conversion to make it 13-19 and eight minutes later winger Ioane reduced the deficit to a single point when he latched onto Nick Phipps's pass to score after the scrum-half had broken up the left.
Barnes' conversion made it 20-19 and saw Australia take the lead for the first time in the match with just 10 minutes to go, albeit by a single point. And inside the final minute Beale stretched the lead to four points with a penalty to end Argentine hopes of a dream win and ensure under-pressure coach Robbie Deans will sleep somewhat easier this week.
The win moved the Wallabies (eight points) into second place on the tournament standings - eight points behind New Zealand (16) who have a vice-like grip on the series with just two rounds to play.
Man of the match: Hats off to the entire Pumas team for yet another physical display that would have left the Wallabies battered and bruised. But we thought Julio Faras Cabello made up for his yellow card shown last week against the All Blacks with a strong performance that included a try while his monster hits a real feature in a physical Test that was perfect for him.
Moment of the match: Cabello's try would have had Robbie Deans chewing the last of his finger nails off, but Pat McCabe's score proved to the beginning of the end for the Pumas.
Villain of the match: Yes, McCabe's yellow for a foul play was a fair call. But talk about going from zero to hero...
The scorers:
For Australia:
Tries: McCabe, Ioane
Cons: Barnes 2
Pens: Barnes 2, Beale
For Argentina:
Tries: Leonardi, Cabello
Pens: Hernandez 3
Australia: 15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Radike Samo, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (capt), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore/Saia Fainga'a, 17 James Slipper, 18 Scott Higginbotham, 19 Liam Gill, 20 Brett Sheehan, 21 Anthony Fainga'a, 22 Kurtley Beale.
Argentina: 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (capt), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Faras Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Leonardo Senatore, 19 Tomas Leonardi, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Martin Rodriguez, 22 Juan Imhoff.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
By Dave Morris
Comments
Trinats2 says...
They don't call it the Gold coast for nothing, although Wayne-ker Barnes tried his hardest to spoil the party. From my seat thier frist try charge down was off side and on the big screen the second try winger was in touch. Forwards held threi own against one of the best packs in the world.
This second (or is it now third) string team came from behind yet again. Who said we don't have depth !!!
No injuries !!! only negative is that Deans keeps his job.
Posted 10:24 16th September 2012
FaaSamoa says...
Hate to say it but the Wallabies deserved to win. They played much more positive rugby and created many more scoring opportunities. They were on the ropes after the 2nd great counterattacking try by the Pumas after yet another Barnes kick (with a poor chase), but showed great composure to come back and dominate play (scrums excepted).
Posted 08:41 16th September 2012
jonesy2 says...
im speechless at the writing of this report. all i read was. we hate australia, we hate australia, we hate australia, over and over again. absolutely brilliant from the wallabies, best win a team has had all year. should have been up by about 3 tries at half time and they stuck it out and ended up getting a sensational win. mccabe has become one hell of a player, what a man. argentina are improving and are clearly a top 5 nation in the world and top 4 in the making. i dont know if they are touring europe but if they are they will smash the likes of england and ireland.
Posted 07:56 16th September 2012
badza says...
Pumas lack the edge.
Posted 06:00 16th September 2012
badza says...
Pumas lack the dge.
Posted 05:59 16th September 2012
Waz4before says...
Argentina just need to learn how to close out games, as an earlier poster said the tri-nation sides know how to do this (just ask Wales, Ireland and England ). but that's a hard team skill to learn but at least thy're not as low down the learning curve as Italy were when they joined the 6Ns. Great game from Wayne Barnes as well.
Posted 05:27 16th September 2012
MacTavish says...
Quade Cooper is the most over-rated player on the Planet. No brain under pressure!
Posted 04:10 16th September 2012
PumasPack says...
Congrats to the Wallabies. They are one of the Big 3 and showed that in the last 20 minutes. It's great to be part of this competition. We have to learn and improve but I think we are in the right way.
Posted 03:54 16th September 2012
Ramage says...
History has been made and it needs to be trumpeted from the rooftops. Let all Australia stand up applaud and shout it from the rooftops, georgesmith has made a post and has not even mentioned Nathan Sharpe hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hall e luu jaaaaaaaaa.
Isn't it sad when blind hatred takes over and one is so spiteful that he can not even acknowledge a team that has fought back to win a test match. Still when you make such predictions about the Wallabies being smashed by both the Boks and Pumas and they actually beat both teams, I suppose it is hard to eat humble pie. Week in and week out we hear how bad Nathan Sharp is and how he must go. Yet now he is the captain of the team. Sharp must go, Deans must go, Barnes must go Dennis must go Kane Douglas is no good and now a fluke win. What a joke Australia can be well pleased that georgesmith is nowhere near the Australian rugby team as his misplaced pessimism is counterproductive especially when week after week his blind hatred is exposed for what it is. He is just a loud mouth who shoots off his mouth with very little knowledge about the game. Do us a favour georgesmith pack up your tent and take your poisonous pen elsewhere as last time I looked the wallabies are still number two in the world. That my good friends is the way it should be lol.
Posted 02:20 16th September 2012
2EyedKiwi says...
Robbie Deans is an amazing coach. Not only the winningest coach in Super Rugby ever, but the fact that he can get anything out of this "team" is unbelieveable. (just adding some ying to the whiners yang...)
Posted 01:29 16th September 2012
hellovanite says...
Argentina are kinda scary if you ask me they're only problem is that they don't have any domestic feeders into a competition like the S15. It is unfortunate because a I really think this country can produce a world champion team not too far into the future. I really think the S15 is out of the question for these guys as putting out a team in this competition would be logistically unfeasible, if you think the Sharks had it touygh this year just imagine the permutations of Agentina having a team in the Semis. I also can not and would not support NZ allowing too many into our teams as this only deprives local talent of a spot. We must not forget that the reason we compete against larger countries is because we do not dilute our own player stocks
Posted 01:11 16th September 2012
BDAUSSIE says...
@ PREEST, I fail to see how argentina "should have won". Australia were unlucky not to put on 20 points in the first half and it was only a charge down try and a moment of brilliance which might i add was not a try (winger tackled into touch) this game would not have been so close.
Wayne Barnes let the pumas do what they wanted a the breakdown. Without fail there was a puma lying on the wallabies side of the ruck at every signal ruck. it really prevented any quick ball
I expect the wallabies will win by more when the teams meet again in several weeks.nevertheless the wallabies need a new coach
Posted 00:25 16th September 2012
Eejbm says...
Gee, the Wallabies get no love from this website do they? I don't think they have been tipped to win any time this decade.
Go Wallabies!
Posted 23:08 15th September 2012
georgesmith says...
Fluke win for Wallabies. R. Deans continues to live life on the edge. R. Deans and B. Barnes need to be shown the door. This guy has no shame about his aimless kicks. If he is so scared of getting tackled then why not just quit rugby and play go play volleyball. J. Cabello's try was a gift from B.Barnes, who just kicked and none of the backline players knew he would kick.
Posted 21:51 15th September 2012
PREEST says...
That was an incredible game of footy. Enjoyed it more than the NZ vs SA game.I felt for the Pumas, as they should have won. You could see the disappointment on Lobbe's face at the end. How they blew a 13 point lead, I do not know, maybe the travel tired them? Complacency perhaps...Well done Aus to stay composed and come back. Most teams would have panicked. Now we know what's to come in Argentina against NZ and AUS if the Pumas can almost beat the Wallabies away from home!
Posted 20:31 15th September 2012
davodiablo says...
If Deans gets sacked who will coach Australia ?
Posted 20:05 15th September 2012
Toulousain says...
@donguiyo. agreed 100%. if the Pumas had done something similar, we would never had heard the end of it. we know so many of the pumas players from club rugby in france. it just sickens me to hear the SH commentators talk about them like they are imbeciles, or in a kind of "didn't they do well" patronising way.
make no mistake. these guys can play. they could/should have 2 victories already. f-lobbe would make most people's 4 nations team imo. give them some respect!!
Posted 19:53 15th September 2012
KnockOnKing says...
Glad to see Imhoff in the match even if he did step out of bounds. Agree that LP looked a little more ragged those last 10 minutes. Still they might have won it.
Posted 16:51 15th September 2012
Fatflanker says...
Quade Cooper played extremely well for the Argies I felt. Other than that a pretty solid performance from an Oz team that are starting to show some ticker. The Oz scrum also starting to look the goods. Dingo gets to rack a rare win against Graham Henry too.
Posted 15:53 15th September 2012
Fatflanker says...
Quade Cooper played extremely well for the Argies I felt. Other than that a pretty solid performance from an Oz team that are starting to show some ticker. The Oz scrum also starting to look the goods. Dingo gets to rack a rare win against Graham Henry too.
Posted 15:52 15th September 2012