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In front of a paltry crowd of only 14,281 the Wallabies held on to beat the Pumas on Saturday night. But they were lucky to escape with the victory after the Pumas blew a huge chance to level the match up in the final minute.
The Wallabies came out full of running, and Michael Hooper scored after just three minutes. They looked very positive.
But just a few minutes later the Wallabies turned over the ball while on attack and Manuel Montero raced 60 meres down field and with the conversion the Pumas took the lead.
The Wallabies were sloppy in the rest of the first half with a lot of dropped ball and some terrible decision making. Twice Nick Phipps took quick taps after the Wallabies were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts.
Phipps had a poor first half, rushing his play too much and throwing some very mediocre passes. The two to Matt Toomua and Bernard Foley that resulted in turnovers were the worst examples.
On the positive side, the Wallabies’ scrum not only held up in the first half, it was dominant, although I thought the referee got some of his decisions favouring the Wallabies wrong.
Unfortunately the first half ended with the curse of the Wallaby hooker striking Tatafu Polota-Nau injured his left ankle late in the half, and while he battled on until halftime he was a passenger. He’ll have scans on Sunday but is in serious doubt for the rest of The Rugby Championship.
After Hooper’s try, three penalties to Foley gave the Wallabies a 14-7 lead at half time.
The Wallabies enjoyed a mountain of possession and with a second try to Hooper early in the second half after some lazy work by the Argentinians and another to Peter Betham in the sixtieth minute after a great break by Phipps, the Wallabies looked to be heading for a comfortable victory.
But once the Pumas got a decent share of possession and their scrum finally gained ascendancy over the Wallabies they came back into the match strongly.
Two tries to Argentina in the 64th and 71st minutes brought the score back to 29-25. A Foley penalty goal gave the Wallabies some breathing room at 32-25.
But the Pumas refused to go quietly into the night and it looked like they might score under the posts before a desperate tackle from Nic White and Ben Alexander halted their progress and a knock on at the base of the ruck seemed to have crueled their chances.
However a penalty against the Wallabies at the ensuing scrum set up a last chance for the Pumas to snatch a draw. With the Pumas scrum now dominant even Wallaby supporters must have been expecting trouble on an Argentinian feed just five metres out from the Wallaby line but the referee awarded a free-kick against the Pumas and that was that.
Even after the match the Pumas were still confused as to what their offence was. The halfback believed it was for his feed not being straight but one of their backrowers thought it was for pushing early. Apparently it was for a crooked feed.
For the second week in a row the Wallabies came away with a win but can’t be happy with their performance. Hooper told the press this week the Wallabies were trying to find their ‘mojo’ in this match but he admitted in the press conference that it was still missing.
There were some good passages of play, there were some really poor ones. There was some good decision making, there was some serious brain fades. There were too many errors, there was too much inconsistency.
Phipps played a much more controlled second half and was greatly improved but his was a Jeckyl and Hyde performance.
Scott Higginbotham, Pek Cowan and Kurtley Beale all came on with around half an hour left in the match. Unfortunately none of them made much impact this week and neither did James Horwill when he replaced Sam Carter.
I thought Carter and Simmons were again ineffective as was Fardy. In the press conference I asked Ewen McKenzie about the recent performance of the Wallaby 4/5/6 and whether he’d seen improvement in this match. He answered that he’d seen the criticism but didn’t agree with it as he had access to much more detailed analysis of their performances which showed him they’d been performing well and he thought they did so again in this match.
Beale didn’t add anything positive this week in his extended time on the field. There was nothing in his performance that provided any answer to the question – should he start or finish?
Foley played quite well and kicked really well with his six from eight being the difference. The teams scored three tries each. I’ll have to look at the footage later but I’m sure he blew a try in the first half when he broke the line with a player outside him and failed to make the pass.
The poor attendance was a disaster for the ARU. The lost revenue from one of the lowest Test crowds in recent memory cannot be afforded and the experiment with Tests outside of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne must surely end until the ARU can repair the coffers.
The Wallabies left the Gold Coast with a win, and that’s two in a row. It moves them level with the Springboks on 10 points, so it’s not all bad. But I don’t think the future looks any more golden than it did after the drubbing by the All Blacks.
Ewen McKenzie makes the point often that for the Wallabies it has to be about more than just results – it has to be about winning back the fans. Something needs to change if the Wallabies are to achieve that. because I sense a very flat mood among many fans.