The Wallabies will have a week off to lick their wounds before facing the All Blacks at Eden Park, and front of mind will be one key focus: fixing the slow starts.
Despite coming within a final score of pulling off a win, the 28-26 loss marked the fourth consecutive result the Wallabies have managed a final quarter surge, with the side being behind by three converted tries at the 60th minute.
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It’s a challenge that comes with many moving parts, and one that Tate McDermott and Rob Valetini are getting ‘frustrated’ by.
“We weren't able to start fast and start well. Argentina dictated stuff in the first half,” Valetini said to reporters after the match.
“Can't let that happen. This is probably the third game where we let the lead slip and try to come back. You can't give a world-class team like the Argentinians [get] a head start like that.
“We don't have to do it. Yeah, I'd say a bit frustrating.
“Knowing that we can play attacking rugby and those patches in the second half we played well. I think we know as a team when we play our game, it's hard for teams to stick with us. And we just weren't able to play for 80 minutes.”
“[It was] a little bit of deja vu from last week really,” McDermott added.
“There'll be a lot to speak about our discipline. But that's not only the penalties. It's like our errors around our fundamentals that we're making.
“For example, we almost score. We don't score.
We've got them in a good part of the field. They go all the way up the other field and there's a yellow card. It's moments like that that are huge moments in test matches.
“When you give a team that much momentum swing, regardless of who they are and who we're coming up against, we're going to get hurt.
“So it starts with our discipline, 100 per cent, because we've been really clean the whole year up until probably the last two weeks. That's something we've really got to first of all understand why that all of a sudden comes out of nowhere and rectify that quickly.”
Decision making will also be front and centre, with the Wallabies making nine knock ons by the 60th minute.
“The last two weeks, we've tried to score off those line breaks as opposed to the patience of it's all right to get tackled,” McDermott explained.
“If we're skillful enough, yeah, 100 per cent, we can offload. But we've got to weigh up whether the risk is actually worth the reward there.”
The scrum half is taking a lot of confidence however from the developing halves ‘hub’ of the Wallabies team, with James O’Connor providing huge support to the likes of Tom Lynagh and Tane Edmed.
“I thought he steered the team around well in that second half,” McDermott said of Edmed.
“He kicked well for that 50-22. That gave the boys field position in the first half.I think his voice was great out there.
“He'll continue to grow. He'll look at things he can get better at and also things he did well.
“James sees the game very positively. He wants to exploit the weakness. He wants to exploit tired defenders.
“He backs himself. That confidence that he brings, brings everyone with him as well.
“Lenny [Ikitau] referred to when Quade [Cooper] came in and just what that did for guys like Noah and guys underneath, Ben Donaldson was there as well. I think Rabs has had a similar effect.”
The side will reconvene after a small break, with the Wallabies looking to break a Eden Park winnless streak that stretches back to 1986.
However, given the side has broken an even longer streak at Ellis Park already this year, this is hope the Wallabies can back up that growth, with Valetini also admitting he’s starting to find his own form again.
“I was injured through Super Rugby as well. The boys have been referring to it as a holiday at the start of the year,” Valetini joked.
“The body's feeling pretty good at the moment. I've been feeling pretty good out there.”
“We don't really look at where we're playing,” McDermott added.
“To be honest, it's about the belief in this group. Twickenham, Ellis Park, they're the things that bring belief to this side.
“But it's about how we transfer that belief off the field. That's our biggest challenge and something we've got to get right.”
