Final thoughts:
The Wallabies will no doubt be pleased to have won tonight —and to have secured a bonus point. With so little possession they may wonder just how they managed it, but credit will be given where it’s due, to their defence which did a mountain of work.
After three quick tries to start the game — a time during which Argentina seemed in a distracted daze, as if they were worried they’d rushed off to the game having forgotten to turn the oven off— the Wallabies appeared on track for a big win but any slickness they showed early on soon lost its lustre as the game became more of a grind. The backs never really had much of a chance after that blistering opening.
For all that the Wallabies showed enough class and determination to win. Argentina, meantime, will be sorry they couldn’t make more of their time on the ball.
Well, that’s that. Thanks for your company and see you next time.
Wallabies’ captain Stephen Moore speaks of his pride at Australia’s defensive work, “making nearly 100 tackles in the first half”.
“We started well and that’s always important,” he says. “We’ve won the last two games and we’re starting to build belief and confidence before going on the road.”
Pumas half Tomas Cubelli adds his two pesos worth: “It was not our best start but we showed good character and fought until the end,” he says. “We will try to show more of what we showed in the second half. [All the travel we have done is] not an excuse. We did a hard pre-season and were ready for that. It was a mental thing. We gave a bad 20 minutes to Australia and we need to work on our mental toughness.”
Fulltime: Australia 36-20
Australia win their final home game for 2016 and find themselves second on the Rugby Championship table. Which sounds better than it really is considering how far ahead New Zealand is in any and all measures. But let’s not quibble. A win’s a win and they won.
80 min + 1: Argentina on the charge and pushing into Australia’s 22. But they are penalised for not releasing and Foley just needs to kick it out to finish the game.
So he does just that.
79 min: Another scrum and we’re just waiting for the final siren now. Cooper goes on a mazy run but Kuridrani, trying to cut back inside, loses the ball.
78 min: Scrum to the Wallabies on the halfway line after Argentina knock on while attempting some swashbuckling passing.
The possession stats, by the way, show Argentina have enjoyed 71% of it. Yet they’re 16 behind.
Penalty goal! Australia 36-20 Argentina (Hodge 75)
From 40m out he clears the crossbar with ease.
74 min: A penalty to Australia from 40m out from the Pumas’ posts. That narrows the penalty count to 16-6 in Argentina’s favour.
Given the possibility of pushing Australia’s lead out to beyond two converted tries Hodge will have a shot.
Conversion! Australia 33-20 Argentina (Sanchez 72)
Another nice kick from Sanchez from wide out narrows the margin — but surely it’s too late for the Pumas.
Try! Australia 33-18 (Isa 71)
And it is.
71 min: A scrum penalty, against the Wallabies. The penalty count must be looking like a lunchtime cricket score about now.
Hang on, the Pumas might have scored here. At the point of a rolling maul Isa is pushed try-wards and though he comes to ground short he manages to reach out and plant the ball on the line. This will be awarded...
Updated
70 min: Two more penalties later, Argentina have a lineout throw 5m out from the Wallabies’ line. They try to fashion themselves into a maul, of the rolling variety, but the ball pops out and forward, and Australia will have the feed of a scrum.
67 min: Foley intercepts and streaks away towards the posts but there’s a whistle ringing out as he ‘scores’.
We go to the video. A play or two prior to the intercept Sanchez was hit off the ball by Cooper. On the scale of bell-ringer to triangle-tinkle it was much closer to the latter but it was deemed naughty enough to penalise and bin Cooper, thus denying Foley the try.
Conversion! Australia 33-13 (Foley 65)
An easy one from straight in front.
Try! Australia 31-13 Argentina (Hooper 64)
And that, surely, is the try that will secure the win for the Wallabies!
Updated
63 min: Polota-Nau, bearded like a man who lives alone with a volleyball on a tiny Pacific island, intercepts a loose Herrera pass.
Moments later, Genia scoots to his right before passing to Cooper. The five-eighth shapes to continue the movement but, again, makes another no-look pass back inside. Again he finds a willing runner. It’s Michael Hooper this time and there’s no one in front of him!
62 min: Folau knocks on after charging onto a Cooper short ball inside the Puma’s half. Folau hasn’t made much of an impact tonight. Or this season, for that matter.
60 min: Debutant Tom Robertson comes on for his debut, replacing Kepu. Should anyone go down injured expect Robertson to offer some medical advice. How’s his bedside manner, I wonder.
Cheika makes two more changes: Coleman for Arnold, Sio for Slipper.
58 min: The Pumas are bogged down in midfield but Isa emerges from the mire and charges 10m before being brought down. But he loses possession and Hodge pumps the ball downfield.
54 min: Foley misses his shot from 10m inside the left touchline but he gets to re-take it because a Puma started running at him too early in Foley’s approach to the ball.
Foley wastes his second chance, screwing the ball wide to the left.
Try! Australia 26-13 (Genia 52)
They can score, that’s what!
After the lineout Sean McMahon goes on a dodgem car of a run —bump, bang, bump— and comes desperately close to scoring a brilliant try. But from the ruck, Genia slips the ball into his pocket and sneaks over for his second of the game.
Updated
51 min: Here’s a chance for Australia; a penalty right on the halfway line. Hodge, who has a kick on him like an ornery mule, finds touch on the Argentina 22. What can Australia do?
49 min: Now it’s Australia who needs to steady. They haven’t looked like scoring since the 14th minute. The way this game is going they’ll need another try or two. Problem is, they’re struggling to get, and keep, the ball.
48 min: Genia splits them on the half and runs into an acre of space! With Tuculet approaching he chips over the top but he crashes to the ground when he hits the fullback who stood his ground. Folau chases but Argentina scramble and regain possession.
Moore off, Polota-Nau on.
46 min: Creevy, as wide as he is tall, comes off, replaced by Montoya. He’s holding his ribs and wincing. He won’t be BMX riding anytime soon I’d wager.
Conversion! Australia 21-13 Argentina (Sanchez 44)
Sanchez nails it from wide out. Game on!
Try! Australia 21-11 Argentina (Cordero 43)
Well, well, well! A Coleman knock on gifts Argentina possession and soon enough Sanchez puts Tuculet into a hole and he gobbles up 20m with a mazy run. Argentina spin it right and it goes through the hands. Kerevi makes a poor defensive read which sees Cordero race along the sideline. He steps inside Hooper and dives over!
Updated
42 min: Argentina start the half where they left off the last, holding possession but not really piercing the Wallabies’ defence —which has been excellent thus far.
This won’t help them. Right under the ref’s nose, and under pressure from Simmons, they take too long to release the ball and that’s a penalty to the Wallabies which will take the home team into the Argentina half.
Updated
Peeeep!
41 min: Sanchez at the restart, Coleman leaps to claim the ball.
You may also want to peruse the match report from the All Blacks’ flogging of the Springboks:
Do you need some halftime distractions? Two things to note and bookmark:
One, a Malcolm Gladwell podcast looking at the vanity behind basketball great Wilt Chamberlain giving up underhanded free-throw shooting even though it brought him more success than the more customary method.
The other a Guardian video on America’s gun culture:
Half-time: Australia 21-6 Argentina
After a breathless start that saw the Wallabies up by 21 points to nil before we’d seen 15 minutes of action, the game – and Argentina – has settled. But for all Argentina’s possession they still have some work to do, and they haven’t really looked like scoring a five pointer.
Updated
40 min: As I was saying, Argentina have worked their way back into the game – at least in terms of possession, if not points. They’ve made 94 runs and just four kicks leading into half time. As such, the Wallabies have made 98 tackles to 21.
Updated
39 min: Coleman is being treated for a bleeding bottom lip which looks like a tropical fruit that’s been stamped on. No snogging for him tonight.
Oh, refresh your browser. I somehow forgot to take note of a second Sanchez penalty kick. These things happen. It’s 21-6.
37 min: Peeling off a scrum inside his own half Cubelli swings into a pocket of space but Genia tackles him around the legs before he can really get going. But as he falls Cubelli attempts a flick pass to Tuculet who’s motoring into a big gap. He would have been in the clear had he caught it. But he didn’t.
36 min: In midfield, Cooper angles a stab kick through the line and Folau chases it with gusto. It sits up just at the wrong time for Folau but not for Haylett-Petty who snaffles the ball under pressure. Just outside Argentina’s 22 the Wallabies consolidate but Mumm knocks on again.
Penalty goal! Australia 21-6 Argentina (Sanchez 35)
34 min: Within Australia’s half now and the Argentine’s show some attacking flair. And it may have led to something interesting had Scott Sio not tackled a player without the ball.
Penalty to Argentina (the count is 11-2 in their favour), and Sio is off for 10 minutes.
Sanchez takes the shot at goal and nails it.
Updated
32 min: Hooper gets penalised at the breakdown for coming in from the side and the referee warns the Wallabies that if it happens again someone will be sent to the sheds for a spell of colouring in-based mindfulness.
30 min: Argentina have righted themselves, but have they given Australia too much of a start? You’d have to think yes, but it’s a funny ol’ game, cricket. Rugby too.
27 min: Sanchez, who’s been kicking beautifully so far in the Championship, strikes the ball sweetly but it cannons off the left upright.
From there Australia sweep downfield and get inside Argentina’s half. But then Mumm loses the ball. Muuuuuumm! Folau cleans up and while he’s crouched over the ball a crane of an Argentina forward collapses on him. That would have hurt.
25 min: After stringing together six phases that included some sharp short backline passing that looks good despite it ending in little forward progress, Argentina swing it left.
Somewhere along the way the referee’s arm goes up for advantage and with that freedom won winger Gonzalez grubbers behind the line. He regathers, grubbers again, and had it not bounced into touch he would have been a chance to regather for a second time and threaten a try.
But we go back for the penalty.
Penalty goal! Australia 21-3 Argentina (Sanchez 23)
Having been awarded a penalty just outside Australia’s 22 Argentina decline another go at rolling and mauling, huffing and puffing, and Sanchez takes the easy three instead. Can’t blame Argentina, really. Getting on the board just might steady their nerves.
20 min: That’s sloppy from Australia. Cooper catches then throws in some light-stepping before going to ground with the ball. He places the ball behind him, waiting for support, but there isn’t any, and Creevy steps over him, picks up the ball, and wins possession.
19 min: Argentina can’t get it together. They fling it across their backline but there’s a wildness to their passing, and Leguizamon spills the pill under pressure from Hooper.
17 min: The Pumas are awarded a penalty after that kerfuffle and they are on the attack again, desperate to get back into this game which has gotten away from them early like an excitable puppy in an unfenced yard.
Updated
15 min: A Puma is down and being treated for an injury. Can’t see who it is, but he gets up gingerly.
The Pumas find touch but turn the ball over almost immediately, and the Wallabies, on their own line, spin the ball left through the hands. Too adventurous by the Wallabies? Yes. Folau is dragged into touch inside his own 22. The Pumas, in their haste to tear the ball from his arms and restart play quickly, cause the Wallabies to come to Folau’s aid and a brouhaha develops.
14 min: Finally something from Argentina who are deep in Wallaby territory and rolling steadily towards the line with a succession of rucks and brutal forward runs.
Ten phases in they win a penalty right on the Aussie line.
Conversion! Australia 21-0 Argentina (Foley)
Dead easy for Foley, this one.
Try! Australia 19-0 Argentina (Genia 13)
Yep, try it is. The video ref was checking to see whether Genia knocked it forward when collaring Sanchez. Computer says no.
Updated
13 min: The Wallabies may have gone in again! Sanchez is caught in the act of passing by Genia who is on him like your mum’s hot flannel on your Vegemitey face. Genia toes the loose ball ahead and wins the 20m race for the ball, catching it as he dives over the line.
11 min: Argentina need to steady the ship, here. They are all over the place in defence. And this won’t help: a penalty against their scrum for early engagement.
Conversion! Australia 14-0 Argentina (Foley 9)
From 10m to the outside of the right post Foley makes no mistake.
Try! Australia 12-0 Argentina (Haylett-Petty 8)
Another one! Coleman wins an Aussie lineout on Argentina’s 22. The Aussies go left this time, from Genia to Cooper. Cooper shapes to continue the ball’s progress left but he throws a cheeky, no-look ball back inside where a flying Haylett-Petty arrives to catch it and outpace the defence.
Updated
6 min: After a lineout win inside Australia’s half Sanchez attempts a long-range drop goal but he’s in traffic and it’s smothered before it reaches head height.
3 min: What a start from Australia, helped by that dreadful clearing kick. Just what the low-on-confidence Wallabies needed.
Updated
Conversion! Australia 7-0 Argentina (Foley 2)
With an 89% success rate so far in the Rugby Championship Foley is in form and he curls this one over from the sideline. Lovely kick.
Try! Australia 5-0 Argentina (Kerevi 1)
Blimey! The Wallabies strike before they even bring up a sweat.
Foley retrieved a wobbly kick inside the Argentina half and sliced through the disorganised defence like a swallow. The ball was then put through the hands, Genia, to Cooper, to Hooper. He held it cleverly for an extra second, creating a gap through which he put Kerevi over in the right corner!
Updated
Peeeeep!
1 min: Bernard Foley, with his head strapped like a front rower, gets the game underway with a deep drop kick.
It’s anthem time in Perth.
A tenor, who doesn’t look like one, belts out Argentina’s theme tune with gusto. A second man, who’s not a tenor but does looks like one, leads us in Advance Australia Fair.
Cheers and claps all round.
It’s still light in Perth, just after 6pm, and the sky is a lovely shade of purple with apricot fringes.
Kick off is nigh!
My mathematically astute, but wildly fanciful, colleague, Dan Lucas, points out that Argentina can still win the Rugby Championship.
All they have to do is get bonus point wins in all three games that remain as long as New Zealand fail to win again. In this scenario the Pumas need to thrash the All Blacks.
Only one change to the Wallabies’ side that beat the Boks last Saturday. That’d be Rob Simmons coming in for Kane Douglas. On the bench are the eighth and ninth debutants of the season, full-time medical student Tom Robertson and Melbourne Rebels utility forward Lopeti Timani.
Los Pumas have made four changes to their run-on side, led by the promotion of Brumbies scrum-half Tomas Cubelli. Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Santiago González Iglesias and Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino will all start.
Argentina’s number 5, Matias Alemanno, has a great surname. I wonder if his nickname is ‘P’? (If I have to explain...)
Teams, yes, right:
Straya:
ICYMI | Here's the Qantas Wallabies line up to face Argentina. #AUSvARG #StrongerAsOne pic.twitter.com/BNTBfBDxTA
— Qantas Wallabies (@qantaswallabies) September 17, 2016
Tina:
#LosPumas Así forma el Seleccionado Nacional para jugar a las 7:05 vs @qantaswallabies en Perth. #VamosPumas pic.twitter.com/3PMGnTt4F3
— UnionArgentinaRugby (@unionargentina) September 17, 2016
Did you have a look at that video posted first up? The one with the giant kid palming off opponents like they were made of papier-mâché (known as paper mash-ay in Australian schoolrooms)?
Frightening, what? Brings back some not so fond memories for me of being a junior rugby league player shortly after they got rid of weight-based competition, and replaced them with ones based on age. I can remember a game where my team’s entire backline were being dragged downfield by some behemoth of a primary-schooler with legs like a young bison.
You can see in the video why age-based comps in junior league/union aren’t without their flaws. Then again, this kid, if made to play in a competition based on weight, could well find himself playing against much older kids who are considerably stronger, faster and more dexterous —thus putting his health at risk.
But I digress…
Updated
Why does anyone play professional sport? For the glory, the challenge, the money. And all the free stuff:
Métete en la intimidad de #LosPumas y mira el vestuario. #PersonalRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/CnkIRQDeBJ
— UnionArgentinaRugby (@unionargentina) September 17, 2016
If the 2016 table looks bleak enough for the Wallabies consider they have a tough back end to the championship with a run of away games. This makes tonight’s game particularly important if they hope to avoid both the ignominy of finishing last and the calls from the stands and press box that everyone involved in Australian rugby should be sacked, from coach Michael Cheika down to the boot boy. So no pressure.
The last time these teams played each other Southern Hemisphere rugby was all over Northern Hemisphere rugby like a rash that looks like it’ll be in for the long haul:
Isn’t it amazing how quickly fortunes can turn?
“Yes, it is,” I hear you reply, before you add: “Could you show us a couple of Rugby Championship tables to help underline that point further while at the same time keep us abreast of where things stand as of right now?”
Why yes, I can, I’m glad you asked. Here are the relevant tables after round 3 in 2016 and 2015 respectively:
How the #RugbyChampionship table looks after round three. pic.twitter.com/hRkh5fOTOu
— EatSleepRugby (@eatsleeprugby) September 11, 2016
I know it's only half a championship due to the world cup, but I did not see this table coming! #RugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/DuVTrblsAW
— Dan Pennington (@danpennington7) August 8, 2015
Preamble
The Wallabies are on a roll, folks! What is it now? One in a row, if you don’t mind!
Yes, last week the Wallabies broke a six-game losing streak to beat the Springboks in Brisbane, and you could feel the Wallabies’ exhalation of relief on your skin like a sea breeze on a sweltering day.
But what does it tell us, that win? That the Wallabies have finished bottoming out and are on the way back up? Or does it mean the Springboks are in an even worse state thus putting an asterisk the size of an obelisk against the result? Former All Blacks coach Graham Henry would, unsurprisingly, go with the latter. He was quoted this morning saying the current Wallabies are “woeful” and the “the worst [Wallabies team] I have ever seen”.
Indeed, that such a woeful team got a result against the Springboks makes him worry about the state of the game in the once mighty Southern Hemisphere (outside of New Zealand, of course). Then again, the Wallabies’ woefulness has also caused some to reassess the impressiveness of England’s 3-0 sweep of the Aussies in June.
While the All Blacks claimed the Rugby Championship with a thumping win against the Springboks in Christchurch tonight, the Wallabies will play their last home Test of the season when they face the Pumas of Argentina in Perth tonight. Captain Stephen Moore has said the Wallabies will try to shake off the anxiety his team have been wearing like a death shroud (I’m paraphrasing with gay abandon) and give the Aussie supporters something else to cheer about before they leave these shores and cross the River Styx (I’m completely off-grid now).
For any sweetly deluded Wallabies fans banking on two in a row bear in mind that Argentina, who last played Australia in the World Cup semi-final (which seems like a lifetime ago), are not here in order to play the Wallabies into form. Aside from their 57-22 loss to New Zealand last week (for 50 minutes Argentina held their own) the Pumas have performed reasonably well, splitting games against the Springboks: a 26-24 home win in Salta and a 30-23 away loss in Mbombela.
Going on all that, there seems to be little between Australia, South Africa and Argentina at the moment (with New Zealand so far ahead of them all that the dust cloud they created in zooming past them has had time to dissipate).
In short, tonight’s game, you would think, will be close. Let’s just hope it crackles and pops in such a way we can forgot for a moment the limp state of Australian rugby.
Kick-off: 6pm (local — 8pm AEST)
Paul Connolly will be in the chair shortly, but until then check out this little tacker in action:
I imagine it’s the kind of performance Michael Cheika will be hoping for from debutant prop Tom Robertson.
