It Ended All Square Yet Again For Australia and Argentina

December 05, 2020
1676
Ultimate Rugby

The Tri Nations came to a close with Australia and Argentina playing out to an eventful 16-16 draw in the final fixture. Argentina picked up a yellow card 15 minutes in for a dangerous cleanout by Marcos Kremer, with Australia slotting the resulting penalty to open the scoring 3-0.

A fantastic rendition of the Australian National Anthem 🇦🇺#AUSvARG #TriNations
pic.twitter.com/ooXu094SnD

— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) December 5, 2020

Argentina leveled matters almost immediately with a penalty of their own around the midpoint of the first half. It was then the Wallabies turn to go down to 14 players as they picked up a yellow card, Michael Hooper on the receiving end also for a dangerous cleanout. Argentina then edged ahead with a penalty on the half hour mark to make it 6-3. Argentina capitalized further on their numerical advantage, as after a powerful maul, Felipe Ezcurra sniped short side and with a show and go broke to race away before playing Bautista Delguy on the right who put a strong fend in to fly over for the games first try to make it a ten point ball game at 13-3.

The Wallabies would have the final say of the first half, with a penalty with the final play seeing them trail 13-6 at the break despite completely bossing both territory and possession. Ten minutes into the second half Australia made it a four point ball game with a penalty making it 13-9. 59 minutes into the match the Wallabies picked up a red card, as Lukhan Salakaia-Loto's shoulder made direct contact to the head in the tackle with force, with Argentina slotting the resulting penalty to make it 16-9 heading into the final quarter. Five minutes later, Lucas Paulos received a yellow card for collapsing a strong Wallaby maul 5m from his own line.

Dave Rennie's first year as the Wallabies' head coach 📊

0⃣6⃣ Games
0⃣1⃣ win
0⃣3⃣draws
0⃣2⃣ losses
8⃣3⃣ Points scored
1⃣3⃣9⃣ Points conceded
0⃣7⃣ Tries scored
1⃣6⃣ Tries conceded pic.twitter.com/669Mrp3n1x
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) December 5, 2020

Australia would go back into the corner and then power over, with Michael Hooper getting it down for his 20th test try, the most by a Wallaby forward, to level things up at 16-16 and set up an intense finish. With the rain continuing to pour down, both sides looked to play in the right areas of the field in the final ten minutes. Australia were awarded a late penalty, with the responsibility once again falling on the shoulders of Reece Hodge, but the long shot at goal with around a minute remaining went wide as the sides had to settle for a share of spoils. That's back to back draws between Argentina and Australia, wth New Zealand confirmed champions of the Tri Nations.