JUJUY, Argentina (AP) — Australia took its scoring chances and showed steel in defense, leading end to end to beat Argentina 27-21 Saturday in the first of two rugby test matches.
Tries in the first 10 minutes to hooker Brandon Paenga-Amoso and flyhalf Carter Gordon gave Australia an early buffer which it protected against an adventurous but less clinical Argentina.
Australia clung to its final six point margin for the last 27 minutes of the match when tiredness induced by altitude in the mountainous venue saw some sloppiness and imprecision invade its game.
Its inability to retain possession, especially in the last 10 minutes, gave Argentina chances to snatch a win but the Australian defense rose to the occasion.
“Here at altitude the shoulders are sore, the lungs are sore,” said backrower Tom Hooper who scored Australia’s only second half try. “It was a hard test match and the whole 23 got us across the line.”
Three wins for Australia under Kiss
Australia remains unbeaten in three matches under former rugby league star Les Kiss, who succeeded Joe Schmidt as head coach.
“I think the way Les communicates is very calming,” Hooper said. “He’s brought a really good mindset in terms of how we’re training and if you want to be world class, get good results and lift a bit of silverware you have to train world class.”
When it kicked out of hand Saturday, Australia mostly looked to touch to apply pressure through field position while Argentina kicked contestably and often won back kicked possession.
Australia was more clinical than Argentina in attack, taking 18 points from visits to the Pumas 22 in the first half to lead 22-14 at halftime. It wasn’t until the second half that they strung together a large number of phases and carried the ball from depth to the goal line to create Hooper’s try in the 53rd minute.
Argentina took only seven points from incursions into Australia’s 22 in the first half but looked more dangerous when it attacked from depth, on the counter or from turnovers. It had a knack of finding weak shoulders in the Australian defense but its finishing lacked sharpness.
Loosehead Boris Wenger and backrow Joaquin Moro were industrious and both scored tries while fullback Geronimo Piscatelli was a constant attacking threat, scoring one try and missing two others.
Piscatelli scores
After Australia’s two-try opening, Piscatelli scored in the 14th minute when flyhalf Santiago Carreras put wing Rodrigo Isgro through a gap to open up the defense.
Wallaby backrower Fraser McReight scored in a goal line scramble to make Australia’s lead 19-7 after 20 minutes. Moro scored for Argentina from a free kick after a five meter scrum after Australia had defended stoutly with 14 men, with Harry Potter in the sin bin.
A Ryan Lonergan penalty gave Australia an eight-point halftime margin.
Argentina started the second half strongly and Piscatelli twice went close to scoring, his second attempt disallowed for a forward pass. Wenger scored in the 51st minute to cut the lead to one point at 22-21.
The match became scrappy through the middle of the second half but Hooper’s first try in three years, from a linebreak by Hunter Paisami gave Australia the margin it defended until full time.
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