Crunching the numbers: Australia vs Argentina

Whether one still calls it the Tri-Nations or to the Rugby Championship, one thing remains the same, excellent end to end, nailbiting intensity rugby. 

After trailing in the opening for minutes, Argentina came back in the final minute to clinch what is only their eighth victory against the Wallabies, made sweeter by the fact that victory was secured down under. The following numbers tell a story of the nailbiter fixture:

Both teams barely gave up anything on the defensive end with Australia completing 172/191 (90%) of their tackles, while Argentina completed 68/86 (79%)

However the Walalbies were all the more efficient on defense with eighth-man Rob Valetini leading the statistics with 22 tackles completed in the day. Fellow loose forward Fraser McReight followed behind with 20 tackles, while prop Allan Alaalatoa rounded off the top three defensive workhorses of the game.

Argentina's Pablo Matera was a bit costly on the day, giving up the most offsides (2) on the day. However he was tied on the list with five Australians namely, Marika Koroibete, Marika Koroibete, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Samu Kerevi.

On the offensive side, Nawaqanitawase lead the charge by far in metres gained, securing a mammoth 124m while beating three defenders off eight carries. Test debuatant and Argentina 7's stalwart Rodrigo Isgro was next in line on the metres gained list with his 82m off 10 carries while beating two defenders.

Argentina fly-half led the attack and rightfully so, edning with 14 carries ahead of fellow countryman Pablo Matera who had 11 carries.

Goal Kickking:

NZ 6/7 (86%) - (50%) 2/4 SA

Rucks:

NZ 91/95 (96%) - (95%) 74/78 SA