The Wallabies have ended their Rugby Championship campaign with a 12-point win over Argentina at Twickenham to finish second behind an undefeated New Zealand.
All the wash-up from the Wallabies’ win over Argentina
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A double to Samu Kerevi got the Australians home in the end against a determined and resurgent Pumas outfit who dominated possession and field position for the majority of the game.
It was a shaky start for the Wallabies when a Will Genia clearance kick was charged down in the second minute, allowing Argentine fly-half Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias to cross the white line.
It wasn’t to be for the Pumas though, with the five-pointer being overturned by an offside call.
The Wallabies made them pay for it, crossing up the other end of the park just four minutes later with big Adam Coleman barging his way through broken play to open the scoring.
The right boot of Bernard Foley kept the scoreboard ticking for Australia before a high tackle from Michael Hooper saw the Waratah shown a yellow card.
Argentina pounced on the numbers advantage, rolling forward through the middle as the Pumas’ big men dominated the Wallabies pack.
Matias Alemanno found his way over the try-line to keep Argentina right in the contest.
A second yellow card for Australia in the first half continued to hamper their progress, but the Argentines continued to make errors and let the big chances slip through their fingers.
Kerevi crossed for his first try of the game just before halftime to sink the hosts but a penalty off the ensuing kickoff and three points off the boot of Gonzalez Iglesias after the halftime siren took them into the sheds with a bit of confidence.
A sharp quick tap from Argentina just ten metres out caught Australia napping on their own line as Jeronimo de la Fuente crossed for the Pumas second try of the night.
But it would be their last as two scrappy errors absolutely gifted Australia a pair of tries in the second half to take the game away from them.
The first a loose pass that allowed Kerevi to break through untouched for his second of the game, and the second a rare runaway intercept try from Dean Mumm in the dying minutes to seal the game.
Things began to get heated in the second stanza with a few little scuffles breaking out.
One of those group hugs came off the back of a Nick Phipps brain snap, with the Pumas not taking kindly to Phipps shoving an Argentine trainer over as he was trying to get the ball.
Argentina continued to park themselves in Australia’s half and took a lot of momentum out of a dominant scrum, but they failed to execute their chances inside the Wallabies 22, with the skipper Agustin Creevy even dropping the ball cold over the line.
While not a dominant or convincing performance, Australia seized the opportunities they had and made the most of the luck that came their way.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
CUW Hosge can defend well, but you're right, he's no Kuridrani. The two Ks may will slow the bleeding at Eden Park, but I feel hodge + Kerevi is more building for the future, more the longterm solution. The two Ks would definitely be a step up from this Foley nonsense.
RobC
Roar Guru
Pete, replace the word achieve with maintain, retain or achieve depending on the rank.
Xiedazhou
Guest
Yes his tackling was really poor. Topped the tackle count for the backs and didn't miss any. Made a couple of turn-overs at the tackle as well. Shocking really.
RobC
Roar Guru
I think CUW, this will be sorted out. Without doing so, they have already defeated SA and Au
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Having Argentina in the RC has breathed new life in to what was becoming a rather stale competition Nima.
Jigbon
Guest
Yah what is that with Quades tackle technique. ? It's so bad. He's terrified of contact I think. How can he not have had that coached out of him yet?
Jigbon
Guest
No matter who we pick we won't beat the nuns in two weeks . A snowflakes chance in hell. We don't have the skill level or speed or technique etc etc or strategy. They are so flopping good ! If bob had his kicking boots on they would have won today by 60 plus ... Against the Boks. f me !
CUW
Guest
@ RobC : Pumas will find it difficult to beat the top teams untill they : 1. start selecting their best players , irrespective of where they play ( Figallo, Ayersa, Carizza, Galarza, Bosch , Imoff...) 2. abandon the strategy of playing from their 10m line and adopt a more conservative style. someone from the sky commentary team summed it up nicely. " Pumas are trying to play like the All Blacks , but without the talent or the skills to do so."
CUW
Guest
on both cases it was the TMO who said there was no seperation. now maybe someone who has indepth understanding of the LAWS can tell me what has priority - separation between fingers and the ball or control of the ball. becoz in cricket a catch is completed only when a player has full control of the ball above the ground. no dount both DHP and perenara had fingers on the ball , BUT did they have control of it? i dont think so.
Jigbon
Guest
Eden park! .... danger Will ROBINSON danger ....!!
CUW
Guest
@ Fionn : I would rather have Kerevi and Kuridrani in centers, becz the defence is the bigger issue. wait till u guys play NZ and they see if what i say is true or not.
CUW
Guest
@ soapit : very much doubt he will be unseated , bar injury. ur coach has too much pride and a superiority complex to drop him (or Mumm or Moore or Foalu).
CUW
Guest
did he not ref another test before this? i am sure he is the one who did the top 14 final ( probably becoz there was no other ref coz it was during the June tests.). i am not clear what the procedure is regarding the communication between the ref and touchies and then with tmo. before the card to Coleman there was a high shot by Arnold which JP Doyle is heard on the comms, which the ref does not consider. then he explains to Moore that " there was one before that i did not see and this one i saw". now my question is , why did he not ask the tmo to have a look at the one which JPD called. becoz i remember during the world cup final Owens asked the TMO to look at the Kaino tackle, which the TMO said was ok. my question is , why isnt all refs following the same procedure ? isnt there a SOP for refs?
Bring Back...?
Guest
The team to beat ? The ABs in 2 weeks is: 1. Sio 2. Moore - but replace at half time 3. Kepu 4. Coleman 5. Arnold 6. Timani 7. Hooper 8. Houston 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. Folau 12. Kerevi 13. Hodge 14. ? 15. DHP 16. Hanson 17. Alatoa 18. The other prop from this match 19. Fardy 20. Douglas 21. Phipps 22. Foley 23. Kuridrani Can't think of another young second rower to blood. Perhaps Naivalo on the wing. Antoni, you know the ABs would be worried about this line-up ?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Surely that is a structural directive from the coaches though.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Foley is still playing 10 as far as he is concerned, that's why. QC kicks it higher for Hodge or DHP to chase anyway.
PeterK
Roar Guru
the ref to balme missing the mauls it happened right in front of him not the other side except in 1 of them.
PeterK
Roar Guru
no way will Cheika drop Foley. If Beale gets recalled for the spring tour it would not surprise me to see QC to bench and Foley 10 and Beale 12.
soapit
Guest
is that right? thought there was only 1 miss. must have missed the second. anyway there have been hot streaks and he has a bit of a rep as a sharpshooter (not warranted). also hate to say it but it seems cheika is pretty big fan of his on him over all. remember he had him kicking for touch and clearing the 22 for many matches where clear better options were available. seems he wants to stay loyal until is absolutely forced to and so will stick with his kicker until someone puts daylight between them (ie over 80%) even without the goalkicking the loyalty to foley may remain for a long time especially with him wanting 2 playmakers
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
What irked me was the examples where we had Cooper crash to set up for Foley to clear the kick. Why on earth are we doing this? It reeks of building the game around Foley. Cooper is the better kick. Foley is the 12. If he can't crash to set up for the 10, then he shouldn't be at 12. That's a coaching issue.