Australia 26 Argentina 28
Joe Schmidt celebrated his 60th birthday on Friday, and realistically there were only two presents he wanted: a disciplined performance and another Wallabies win over Argentina.
In the end, he got neither, after yet another stirring comeback – this time from 21 points down – fell just short and the Pumas held out for a 28-26 victory. To complete a bizarre day, South Africa’s 33-point win over New Zealand in Wellington has left the Wallabies at the top of the Rugby Championship.
Schmidt’s Wallabies had become the masters of the great escape, winning in Johannesburg after trailing 22-0 at half-time and in Townsville last Saturday after fighting back from 14 points down against Argentina. In Sydney, a 12-point deficit at half-time became 21 by the 67th minute, and it would prove a mountain too high to climb.
Three tries in 12 manic minutes came from Andrew Kellaway and Filipo Daugunu (2) almost saw the Wallabies pull off another mission impossible, but Argentina hung on. Their deserved victory means they leapfrog the Wallabies into sixth place in the world rankings.
Both head coaches were left frustrated by the officiating. Felipe Contepomi bemoaned a lack of consistency from officials, including missing a forward pass for Daugunu’s final try. His close friend Schmidt struck a more diplomatic tone, saying he was “dominated by disappointment”, but still struggling to work out how his team had got on the wrong side of referee Christophe Ridley so badly.
“We were penalised for getting up in the ruck and being in the way, I thought there was some good gamesmanship from [halfback Gonzalo] Garcia today to manage to run into people, that sort of thing” Schmidt said.
“I thought they fished a couple [of penalties out] and I thought we provided some too easily ... There’s a couple of offsides right at the start of the game and that dilutes your confidence to get forward off the line a little bit, and then you get a little bit passive and you get caught on the wrong side of a tackle. Those things, I suppose, can start to stack up after a while.”
The Wallabies rested two of their hardest-working and most consistent performers, centre Len Ikitau and second-rower Nick Frost, and their absence was keenly felt in Sydney. Ikitau’s ability as a world-class distributor and defender was particularly missed in the back line, while Tane Edmed, on his first Test start, endured a brutally tough first 40 minutes in his home town.
The Pumas had stewed for a week in Sydney, with coach Felipe Contepomi bemoaning refereeing decisions and his side’s inability to close out a Test they really should have won in Townsville. They talked incessantly about “la revancha”, which in Spanish can mean rematch or revenge – and in Sydney, it was clear they were focused on the secondary meaning of the word.
The Wallabies again conceded an early penalty for offside through Taniela Tupou to give the Pumas the lead, but Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii responded immediately with a try, fighting through two Argentina tacklers to power over the line after a brilliant pass from Kellaway.
After the ill-discipline of the first half in Townsville, the Wallabies were even more erratic in Sydney. Edmed had a routine free kick disastrously charged down by Pumas captain Julian Montoya, who collected to score under the posts. Another Santiago Carreras penalty extended the Pumas’ lead by five points.
Rob Valetini had a perfect opportunity to regain the lead but dropped the ball over the tryline. It led to a comedy of errors, starting with Edmed totally mistiming a routine catch and Max Jorgensen yellow-carded for a failed interception attempt.
The Wallabies were fortunate to only concede three points in the talented winger’s absence with the Pumas blowing a gift-wrapped try opportunity when Carreras spilled the ball with a space on either side of him.
The Wallabies’ carefully plotted game plan had seemingly been torn up, exemplified best by veteran prop James Slipper sprinting back to take an acrobatic mark in his 22 from an Argentina kick and Tupou stepping in as a halfback. The Wallabies were simply trying to survive against a relentless Pumas side who dominated contact on the ground and in the air.
Replacements Angus Bell, Zane Nonggorr and halfback Tate McDermott entered the fray at the start of the second-half as a bomb squad put to work to halt the Argentine momentum.
Bell immediately made a powerful impact and almost sent Nonggorr through for a try, with the tighthead spilling the ball from a tough pass.
In Townsville, the Wallabies had been able to fix their disciplinary errors on the fly – but in Sydney they compounded them.
Captain Harry Wilson, normally a skilled diplomat, was warned about his communication by Ridley, summing up the day. Carreras scored his third penalty of the second half, extending the Pumas’ lead to 21-points, which they looked in no danger of losing. Wilson admitted he had struggled to establish a line of communication with the English official.
“Obviously, we gave away too many penalties and some I wanted to have another look at, but didn’t really get too much opportunity there,” Wilson said.
That was until two barely believable tries in two minutes from Kellaway and Daugunu cut the deficit to nine points with 12 minutes to play. The mountain suddenly looked negotiable.
Daugunu crossed after what looked like a forward pass in the final minute, with O’Connor’s conversion giving the Wallabies one last opportunity to win. Ultimately, though, they had given themselves too much to do and the tourists hung on for victory.
The Wallabies have two weeks before they take on New Zealand at their almost impenetrable fortress of Eden Park. Despite the defeat to Argentina and their continued problems with discipline, Schmidt still believes they can become the first side in 31 years to the All Blacks at the Auckland stadium.
“We’ve got to believe because if you don’t believe you’re beaten before you try,” Schmidt said.
“But we also know we’ve got to be better than we were today and better than we were last week. Part of that is the start. Part of that is the continuity and we’ll get some people back. But we can’t just rely on that, we’ve got to rely on our work ethic.
“The one thing I would say is the support was phenomenal today. You could hear it coming into the coaches’ box and it has to be loud for that. It does lift the players without a doubt. We’ve got to keep earning that, we’ve got to keep people enthused about the game.”