Argentina claimed an impressive 59-5 bonus-point win over Chile in the first-ever all-South American Test at a Rugby World Cup on Saturday.
It was a day to remember for fly-half Nicolas Sanchez who became the second centurion for Argentina, following in the footsteps of Agustin Creevy. Fittingly it was the veteran playmaker who opened the scoring with a ninth-minute try.
Los Pumas looked to compound the scoreboard through a 12th-minute penalty before the floodgates opened with Juan Martin Gonzalez crossing after a quarter of an hour with Sanchez making no mistake from the tee. The pivot would be accurate again when converting a Creevy try scored seven minutes later.
Chile did their best to come back into the game but trailed 24-0 at half-time in this one. Their fortunes remained the same when Martin Bogado scored for Argentina five minutes into the second period with the extras added.
The Chileans thought they had scored against their neighbours minutes later but it was ruled out for a forward pass. Still, the side pushed for a try but their hopes were dashed when Rodrigo Isgro crossed for a converted try in the 64th minute.
Gonzalez was at the double minutes late with yet another try as Sanchez became the country's all-time leading Rugby World Cup points-scorer with another conversion.
Chile's try would finally come after the backline players joined a maul to eventually rumble over for a five-pointer through Tomas Dussaillant which went unconverted. That would not be the final say as Argentine star Ignacio Ruiz scored a late try with Santiago Carreras kicking the conversion.
Carreras was involved again only minutes later as he scored right at the death. The fly-half then stood up to nail the conversion from the touchline to cap off a historic match.
The teams
Argentina: 15 Martín Bogado, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (c), 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Joel Sclavi
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Joaquín Oviedo, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Juan Cruz Mallia
Chile: 15 Inaki Ayarza, 14 Santiago Videla, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 12 Matias Garafulic, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 8 Raimundo Martínez, 7 Clemente Saavedra, 6 Martín Sigren (c), 5 Javier Eissmann, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 3 Matias Dittus, 2 Augusto Bohme, 1 Javier Carrasco
Replacements: 16 Tomas Dussaillant, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Augusto Sarmiento, 20 Alfonso Escobar, 21 Ignacio Silva, 22 Nicolas Herreros, 23 Francisco Urroz
Referee: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (RA), James Doleman (NZR)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
A grand total of 14 tries were chalked up by a rampant All Blacks outfit, who seem in ominous form since their opening night defeat to host nation France.
With Argentina expected to claim five points against Chile over the weekend, the Brave Blossoms will then face Los Pumas in a winner-takes-all showdown.
The win puts the South Americans level on points with New Zealand in Pool A, who they face next Thursday, although the All Blacks have a game in hand.
Wales were outstanding as 23 points from replacement fly-half Anscombe, who came off the bench after Dan Biggar's injury on 12 minutes, floored Australia.
The maximum haul puts the Scots on five points ahead of facing Romania before their Pool B campaign ends with a mouth-watering match against Ireland.
It was a captivating 80 minutes at the Stade de France as both sides threw everything at each other, with the Irish prevailing against the 2019 champions.
The success leaves Steve Borthwick's outfit on 14 points in Pool D, with one game remaining against Samoa on October 7 as they look to wrap up top spot.
In an enthralling encounter, Portugal came from 13-0 behind to launch a stunning fightback as they held an 18-13 lead before Tengizi Zamtaradze scored a try in the game's dying moments to clinch the draw for the Lelos.
The rain didn't help but there was little entertainment and attacking quality on show, with Los Pumas grinding out a vital win in the race for the knockouts.
It was a record victory for Les Bleus as they cruised to a bonus-point success, with 54 points racked up in the opening half and 42 in a second in a canter.
The Uruguayans were much the better side in the first half and deservedly went 17-7 ahead at the interval through Nicolas Freitas' score, a penalty try and Felipe Etcheverry's drop-goal.
The famous win throws Pool C wide open as the islanders move on to six points, level with Australia and four behind Wales with two matches still to play.
It was far from pleasing on the eye but the Red Rose got the job done as they backed up their opening triumph over Argentina with a bonus-point success.
As the scoreline suggests, this was a one-sided affair as the defending world champions dominated from start to finish and eventually ran in 12 tries with Cobus Reinach and Makazole Mapimpi crossing for a hat-trick apiece.
Tougher tests await in South Africa and Scotland but on the evidence of their opening two matches, Andy Farrell's men look in fine shape.
The Portuguese were impressive throughout and caused their opponents numerous problems, but the greater quality eventually told.
Tries late in the first half and several in the second were enough to keep a brave Chile side at bay despite their best efforts.
It was one-way traffic in the Pool A clash as the All Blacks ran in 11 tries on the night, with Damian McKenzie adding a further 16 points off the tee.
The game in Lille was predicted to be a comfortable result for Les Bleus but it was anything but as Los Teros will view this as a match they could have won.