TOWNSVILLE, Australia (AP) — The Wallabies trusted their instincts to keep pushing for a late try instead of a potential equaling penalty goal late in their Rugby Championship match Saturday against Argentina.
The gamble was worth it.
Prop Angus Bell scored the clinching try in the sixth minute of added time to give Australia a comeback 28-24 win.
The Wallabies were awarded three kickable penalties after the 80th minute, but kept going for the match-winning try which was finally delivered by an unlikely hero in reserve prop Bell.
“It’s just relieving,” Bell said. “It’s just awesome we could get the win in the end; not go for the (penalty goal), and back our system.”
Australia captain Harry Wilson said his team could have “gone for the goal and taken the draw.”
“But everyone believed we could finish the job. To find a way to get the win against such high-quality opposition is a real credit to them,” Wilson said. “The boys wanted to win the game, might as well back them — 25,000 people pleading for us to tap it and try and win the game. It was the difference in the choice at the end.”
Center Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i scored two second-half tries to help the Wallabies overcome a 21-7 deficit at halftime.
The last time the teams met in the Rugby Championship last year, the Wallabies endured a in Santa Fe, Argentina.
On Saturday, Mateo Carreras kicked two early penalty goals for the visitors to put them ahead 6-0 after 12 minutes in Townsville in tropical north Queensland, where the game-time temperature was 27 Celsius (81 Fahrenheit). Officials stopped play midway through both halves for a drinks break for the players.
Halfback Nic White put the Wallabies ahead from close range to help give the Wallabies a 7-6 lead before the Pumas scored two quick tries.
Winger Bautista Delguy was the beneficiary of some slick handling from his backs and the visitors lead 11-7 after 30 minutes. Winger Carreras added a try and a penalty goal and Argentina, which has never won the Rugby Championship, led by 14 points at halftime.
The Wallabies picked up the first points of the second half when Sua’ali’i scored his second test try from an offload from Len Ikitau to pull the home side to within seven points at 21-14.
Carreras was sent off by referee Paul Williams in the 62nd minute after Argentina gave away five consecutive penalties, and Australia immediately took advantage of the 14-man Pumas.
Sua’ali’i skipped clear of Santiago Carreras and moved between two more would-be tacklers to score his second try of the afternoon and the score was level at 21-21 after 63 minutes before the teams traded penalty goals and Bell’s late try.
“It was far from a good performance,” Argentina captain Julian Montoya said.
“Congrats to Australia, they took their opportunities. But in the second half, we gave away a lot of penalties that we can control, like offside, and then we gave them position pretty easy.”
Both teams were 1-1 going into Saturday’s match. The Wallabies 38-22 and in Cape Town a week later. The All Blacks beat at Cordoba before the Pumas for their first home win over the All Blacks.
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