Santiago Carreras boots Argentina past Wallabies to blow Rugby Championship wide open

Argentina gave their Rugby Championship title hopes a major boost as they overcame the Wallabies 28-26 in Sydney on Saturday, exacting revenge for last week’s defeat.

In a deserved victory, Los Pumas crossed for just one try from Julian Montoya, making his 50th appearance as skipper, as Santiago Carreras booted them to a priceless win.

Australia‘s tries were grabbed by Joseph Suaalii, Andrew Kellaway and Filipo Daugunu (2), with Tane Edmed and James O’Connor slotting extra points in this home loss.

This key triumph leaves Argentina on nine points going into the second Rugby Championship break, with the Wallabies on 11 and still very much in the race for silverware.

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It was a fast-paced and open first period in Sydney as the two sides put the pedal to the floor, putting on a show for the supporters who were treated to copious sunshine.

The scoring rate was similarly end-to-end early on as both teams crossed the line in the opening eight minutes, this after Carreras had kicked a third minute penalty goal.

Australia responded admirably to that setback when slick hands led to Suaalii and Kellaway trading passes and the former barging his way to the whitewash for a 7-3 lead.

The joy was shortlived however as Los Pumas hit back in dire fashion for Australia, with Edmed’s clearance after a mark being charged down and grounded by Montoya.

That made it 10-7 to Argentina and they extended that cushion to six points on 14 minutes via the boot of Carreras before the Wallabies went close through Rob Valetini.

Shortly afterwards the hosts were reduced to 14 men when Max Jorgensen couldn’t resist putting out a hand to halt an attack and they would cough up a further three points during his spell in the sin-bin. A further penalty goal from the faultless Carreras came on 37 minutes, due to sealing off, and Los Pumas went in 19-7 in front.

Things didn’t get much better for Joe Schmidt’s charges after the turnaround as two more Carreras penalties nudged the visitors into an ever promising 25-7 advantage.

Australia desperately needed a response and they called on O’Connor to direct from 10 in the hope of launching a similar fightback to that of one week ago in Townsville.

But their frustrations were only amplified as captain Harry Wilson was next to be pinged for offside and Carreras continued to land blow after blow to the players in gold.

At 28-7 with 16 minutes remaining things were looking rosy but suddenly hope came the way of Australia when Carreras was sin-binned for a similar offence to Jorgensen. That gave the home supporters reason to cheer and they were soon on their feet when Kellaway sliced through to score under the posts for a try that made it 28-14.

It was the try that lit the touchpaper for the Wallabies as O’Connor then sent Daugunu racing down the left wing for an unconverted crossing two minutes later for 28-19.

Despite time running down at Allianz Stadium, Australia would not give in and a 78th minute Daugunu second, converted by O’Connor, put the hosts within two points but Los Pumas survived at the death, sealing another famous win ahead of back-to-back games against the Boks in Durban (September 27 and Twickenham (October 4).

The teams

Australia: 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Tane Edmed, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Tom Hooper, 4 Jeremy Williams, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 James O’Connor, 23 Filipo Daugunu

Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martín Gonzalez, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Franciso Coria Marchetti, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Agustin Moyano, 22 Justo Piccardo, 23 Ignacio Mendy

Referee: Christophe Ridley (FFR)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (NZR), Sam Grove-White (SRU)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZR)
FPRO: Mike Adamson (SRU)