Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies claimed their first win of the 2024 Rugby Championship with a narrow 19-20 triumph in La Plata.
The visitors scored two tries on the day through Jake Gordon and Rob Valetini while Noah Lolesio kicked two conversions and a penalty with Ben Donaldson kicking the winner late on.
Argentina, however, only managed one try through Juan Martin Gonzalez. Most of their points came from Santiago Carreras’ boot with one conversion and three penalties. The fly-half’s replacement Tomas Abornoz added a penalty of his own in the second half.
The start of the game saw the two sides looking to apply pressure and adapt to the wet conditions which saw Argentina draw first blood with Carreras’ first penalty in the 10th minute.
Los Pumas would extend their lead in a matter of a few moments with dynamic number eight Gonzalez crashing over for the team’s sole try in the 13th minute. Carreras was on hand again to add the extras.
The Wallabies did well to keep themselves in the game and it paid off through a Gordon try in the 26th minute that was converted by Lolesio. That would be all the points for Australia in the first half as Carreras kicked his second penalty six minutes before the break.
The second half started as the first ended with Carreras kicking a penalty, his third and final of the clash. As they showed in the first 40 the Wallabies were not prepared to go anywhere and evergreen back-row Valetini crossed for a crucial score with Lolesio making no mistake from the tee.
The Test descended into an arm-wrestle as conditions worsened. Lolesio would add three more points just before the hour mark which was responded to by a penalty from Albornoz.
It looked as if the hosts were going to close out the game but the Wallabies did well to get themselves upfield and secured the winning penalty from right in front through Donaldson to get off the mark in this year’s competition.
The teams
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Joaquin Oviedo, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Tomas Albornoz
Wallabies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR), Pierre Brousset (FFR)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
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