Rampaging Argentina race away with win against Wallabies

Sat, Sep 7, 2024, 8:49 PM
Nathan Williamson
by Nathan Williamson

Argentina have blown away the Wallabies to take a 67-27 win in Santa Fe.

The Australians started fast to take a 20-3 lead after tries to Carlo Tizzano and Andrew Kellaway.

Tickets to 2024 Wallabies home Tests are available here.

But Argentina built momentum and ran away with the game with a near perfect display of attacking Rugby.

The Wallabies had little answer as Argentina hit back to reduce the margin to three at the break before running in the tries in the second half.

Seven second half tries sealed Los Pumas victory as the Wallabies turn their focus to the Bledisloe Cup.

“I felt like we got the opportunity to play off a couple of really good, solid set pieces early and some of the running lines, timing and breakdown work was really positive. I think the biggest contrast for me was that we just really struggled to win collisions in the second half, either side of the ball really, but particularly defensively,” coach Joe Schmidt said post-game.

“Once they had us going backwards, it was very hard to stop them either coming through the middle or as we condensed our defensive line, they stretched us out.

“There was a couple of times where I thought we'd got the ball back and then they got it back off us and we were very much disorganised. That was frustrating as well because we actually gave ourselves half a chance and then gave them the ball back and ended up chasing them around.

"...Obviously, we're disappointed with the second half today, but we probably put three pretty reasonable halves together (in the two games in Argentina). We fell off a bit of a cliff in that second half today

The teams relished the return to perfect conditions as the Santa Fe crowd were treated to some running Rugby from all areas of the ground.

An early trade of penalties eventually led to the opener as the Wallabies powered their way into space through Angus Bell.

Metre-by-metre, the visitors pressed the line before flanker Carlo Tizzano dived over the line for the opener.

Argentina looked to capitalise on a mistake from the kickoff through Marcos Kremer, but an obstruction on captain Harry Wilson saw the five-pointer wiped from the scoreboard.

This allowed the Wallabies to extend their lead when some great hands from Max Jorgensen and Andrew Kellaway put the fullback over for a 20-3 lead.

From here, it was all Argentina as the hosts kept themselves in the contest with two late tries in the first half after Pablo Matera put Mateo Carreras over the line before Julian Montoya barged over the line two minutes before the break. 

With all the momentum, Argentina struck right after the break as Juan Martin Gonzalez got Los Pumas in front with a burst from short.

Argentina were unstoppable as they ran away with the win as flanker Matera barged over for a try of his own after a series of strong scrums.

When Joaquin Oviedo dived over in the 65th minute, Los Pumas had scored 38 unanswered points to seal the bonus point and the win.

Tate McDermott gave the Aussies a brief glimpse of hope with a try with 11 minutes to go.

But Argentina weren’t finished as four tries in the final ten minutes, including a double to Juan Cruz Mallia capped off an incredible afternoon for the hosts, the largest defeat in Wallabies history.

ARGENTINA 67

Tries: M. Carreras, Montoya, Gonzalez, Matera, Oviedo 2, Mallia 2, Cinti

Cons: Albornoz 6/7, S. Carreras 2/2

Pens: Albornoz 2/2

WALLABIES 27

Tries: Tizzano, Kellaway, McDermott

Cons: Donaldson 2/2, Lynagh 1/1

Pens: Donaldson 1/2

WALLABIES v ARGENTINA TEAMS

Wallabies (15-1): Andrew Kellaway, Max Jorgensen, Len Ikitau, Hamish Stewart, Marika Koroibete, Ben Donaldson, Jake Gordon, Harry Wilson (c), Carlo Tizzano, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, Matt Faessler, Angus Bell

Reserves: Josh Nasser, James Slipper, Allan Alaalatoa, Josh Canham, Langi Gleeson, Tate McDermott, Tom Lynagh, Josh Flook

Argentina (15-1): Juan Cruz Mallia, Bautista Delguy, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras, Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Bertranou, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Guido Petti, Joel Sclavi, Julian Montyoa (c), Thomas Gallo

Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, Mayco Vivas, Eduardo Bello, Franco Molina, Joaquin Oviedo, Santiago Grondona, Gonzalo Garcia, Santiago Carreras.

Referee: Pierre Brousset

Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe, James Doleman

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