Australia fight back to tame Pumas 20-19 in Argentina

Australia fought back to earn a nail-biting 20-19 away victory over Argentina on Saturday to snap an eight-match losing streak in the Rugby Championship.

Replacement fly-half Ben Donaldson landed the winning penalty in injury time as Australia came from 10-0 down to claim their first Rugby Championship win since stunning South Africa 25-17 in 2022.

Tries by Wallabies scrum-half Jake Gordon and flanker Rob Valetini cancelled out an early one for Argentina by No.8 Juan Martín Gonzalez.

“It honestly feels so good. We stayed in there, that second half was a tough grind,” Australia captain Harry Wilson told Sky.

‘Stressful last few minutes’

“It was obviously pretty stressful in the last few minutes, but I just loved how composed we were at the end — going through our pick-and-drives and just really trying to grind there until we got a penalty.”

After back-to-back home defeats to the Springboks last month, Australia head coach Joe Schmidt was rewarded for blooding fresh talent in his squad.

Western Force centre Hamish Stewart made his debut in Australia’s midfield, the 15th new cap this season for the Wallabies.

“I’m really proud,” Schmidt told reporters.

“We made a few things hard for ourselves, giving them a head start at home with a loud crowd and often put ourselves straight back under pressure, which was frustrating.

“But we built our way forward, scored a couple of good tries and created a couple of other chances. We have a lot of work to do but we’re pleased to get the four points.”

Despite Australia shading the territory and possession in the first half at the Estadio Uno, a football stadium in La Plata near Buenos Aires, the Wallabies were 13-7 down at the break.

Fly-half Santiago Carreras landed an early penalty and converted a try after Gonzalez touched down, mauled over the line by the Pumas pack as Argentina took an early 10-0 lead.

Australia struck back quickly when full-back Tom Wright punched a hole in the defence before Gordon took an inside pass to cross under the posts.

Carreras extended the hosts’ lead with a penalty after the break, but the Wallabies narrowed the margin to 16-14 when Valetini barged over for a try.

Australia took the lead for the first time with 20 minutes left when fly-half Noah Lolesio landed a penalty.

The visitors had a massive let off when Pumas prop Thomas Gallo picked up from a close-range ruck and charged over, but lost control of the ball as he dived over the line.

Replacement back Tomas Albornoz restored the Pumas lead to 19-17 with 10 minutes to go in pouring rain when he stroked a penalty between the posts.

Veteran hooker Agustin Creevy, 39, earned loud applause when Argentina’s most capped player came off the bench in the final stages for his 110th and final appearance for Los Pumas.

Argentina conceded a penalty in front of the posts as time ran down and Donaldson — on for Lolesio — held his nerve to land the winning kick.