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Israel Folau’s three tries and setting up a fourth gave the Wallabies a spine-tingling 54-17 win over the Pumas at Rosario this morning.
The seven tries to two looks like a shellacking on paper, but the men in gold had to work damn hard for the result, the Pumas kept them honest for 80 minutes.
This was the performance coach Ewen McKenzie has been aiming for, it just took too long to get there.
His troops had everything, from the opening minutes when winger Joe Tomane bombed a magnificent midfield bust, only to blow the pass with the line wide open.
A minute later and Folau was in for the first try, 34 minutes later his second, five minutes after that his third as the Folau smile grew wider and wider.
And in the interim Folau set up the Adam Ashley-Cooper try, with the little general Will Genia the go-between man.
There lay the secret – Will Genia is back with a vengeance.
With his forwards delivering quick ball, and Genia on the prowl, the backline lit up, scoring six of the seven five-pointers.
And every one of the backs played their part.
Sure there were hiccups, with final passes going to ground. Even Michael Hooper bombed two tries by being greedy with the first and not serving his support, and in the other chance, he stone cold dropped a perfect pass with the line wide open.
What the hell, this was such a wonderful change in attitude and application, bombing another five tries sounds a bit churlish.
All I asked for yesterday was for the Wallabies to play to their capabilities. They did that, and then some.
The critical point came early, with six Puma-fed scrums on the five-metre mark, a pushover try imminent with the score at 7-nil to the Wallabies.
In that six minute period, the much-maligned Wallaby scrum held firm against one of the best scrummaging packs in international rugby.
They lost prop James Slipper to a yellow card for repeated infringements, and Benn Robinson came off the bench.
That made all the difference, and to keep the Pumas scoreless in that six-minute dogfight was big ticker stuff.
In the wash-up I gave Genia my three points, Folau two, and Ben Mowen one.
For the Mowen knockers, I hope you watched this morning with an open mind.
I have him down for five huge tackles, one try-saving when it counted, and at least another six head-ons, seven driving runs at full throttle into the defence, and winning good clean lineout ball.
A complete performance of leadership quality.
Even though Mowen was my standout forward, the rest were going at full bore as well, playing their part in such a morale-boosting win.
There was nothing left in the tank.
Out the back, Genia and Folau were superb, as was Tevita Kuridrani’s crushing defence, and a couple of excellent breaks, plus the Tomane breaks and eventual try.
The backline is starting to take shape, and barring any long-term injuries look sharp enough to give the end-of-year Grand Slam a shake.
Matt Toomua came on to replace the injured Christian Lealiifano, but it’s a bit early to know how serious that injury is.
And then a magic moment.
In the 66th minute Felipe Contepomi was replaced in his record 87th Test over 16 years, and he left to a standing ovation from his passionate fans in the almost packed stands. A retiring legend in his very last minute of international rugby.
At exactly the same moment Wallaby benchman Bernard Foley came on for his very first minute of international rugby and in the final 14 minutes landed two goals, and in between he engineered, then scored, a 90-metre try in the shadow of full-time.
Such is the history of international rugby, the retirements and the debuts.
Ewen McKenzie arrived as an international coach today, and it was well worth the wait.
Now a well-earned rest before the end-of-year tour, and let’s see how the current walking wounded scrub up for selection, just to keep the pressure on.
But today belongs to the Wallabies and their coach, they have done it the hard way in this tournament, but saved the best until last.