GOLD COAST: The Wallabies held on grimly to deny Argentina their first win in the Rugby Championship, edging home 32-25 on the Gold Coast yesterday.
Australia looked set for a convincing win with a 29-13 lead and 20 minutes left, but the Pumas stormed back with two late tries to have the home side clinging on inside their own quarter.
The Pumas had a scrum metres out from the try-line in the final moments but conceded a penalty to get the Wallabies home for their second win in the southern hemisphere series.
Yet again Argentina came desperately close to winning their first Test in the Rugby Championship after going down 33-31 to the Springboks in Salta.
Argentina have had an unforgiving introduction to the series and they have yet to win in 16 Tests over three seasons against southern hemisphere powerhouses New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
The Pumas looked set to draw level with minutes left when replacement scrum-half Tomas Cubelli made a break, but dummied rather then passing and the try chance went begging.
It was the same story on the Gold Coast two years ago, up 19-9 with 20 minutes to go before losing 23-19, while Argentina failed to convert forward dominance in driving rain last season in Perth.
The Wallabies went forward 29-13, heading into the final quarter of the match when scrum-half Nick Phipps darted through and his long pass put winger Peter Betham over for his first Test try in the corner.
The dogged Pumas refused to give and two tries got them within four points with nine minutes left.
Centre Marcelo Bosch crossed wide out with 16 minutes left and fullback Joaquin Tuculet raced through to score off Sanchez’s well-weighted grubber kick inside the final 10 minutes.
Foley kicked his fifth penalty with six minutes left to give the Wallabies some valuable breathing space as the Pumas went after the win.AFP
