Historic low as Wallabies torn to shreds by Argentina
Australia has fallen apart on the international stage with the Wallabies imploding in spectacular fashion on Sunday morning.
Rugby
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Wallabies have hit a new low on a dark day in Sante Fe as Argentina put 67 points on the hapless Aussie defence.
Records fell on Sunday morning as the home country scored 63 of the final 70 points of the match after they had been trailing by 14 points after 30 minutes.
It was a nightmare result for the Wallabies who now head into the Bledisloe Cup against New Zealand later this month looking for a miracle.
A week after the Wallabies pulled off a gutsy 20-19 win over the Pumas, the hosts flicked a switch in the second half to run away with a 67-27 victory — the most points that have ever been scored against Australia.
The result lifted Argentina to second in the table on 10 points, still eight points behind leaders South Africa with two games to go. Australia are bottom.
With South Africa beating New Zealand earlier in the day, Argentina must now beat the world champion Springboks in their final two games, one at home and one away, to have a hope of winning the Rugby Championship for the first time.
Australia is now last on the table.
The Aussie side was shredded by rugby commentators.
Wallabies great Stephn Hoiles applauded the performance by Argentina.
“It was humiliating in the end for the Wallabies,” he said.
Other commentators were brutal.
“Genuinely didn’t think the wallabies could get any worse than they were last year,” one rugby fan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Seventy points against Argentina is a downright disgrace. Funny, but a disgrace nonetheless.”
Another posted: “Is Australian Rugby Union dead? If not, there is barely a pulse”.
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson admitted it was a tough loss for his teammates to deal with.
“It hurts all of us,” he said on Stan Sport.
“You have to take the feeling and use it as motivation for the next game. We’ll regroup, have a few days off and then get ready for the next game and get ready into the All Blacks.
“This is a tough way to end the tour after a really good win in the first game.
“It’s going to hurt for a little while. But we’re going to regroup and go again.”
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt didn’t have any answers at full time.
“There were aspects of it that were really good, obviously, to lead a match 20 points to three. But then to get run down, and the manner which we did is really disappointing,” he said on Stan.
“We will review the entire match, there were some positives in those first 30 minutes, but we cannot let a game get away from us like it did and fall off a cliff effectively.
“I thought we lost connection in our defensive line, we were forever chasing them. We didn’t put enough pressure on at the breakdown.
“They were operating off lightning-quick ball, and it’s just too difficult to keep chasing a team on a hot day without the ball.”
After an early exchange of penalties, Australia grabbed the initiative in the 15th minute when flanker Carlo Tizzano burrowed over.
They pulled three scores clear as Ben Donaldson kicked a penalty and then fullback Andrew Kellaway finished off a lightning strike down the right touchline by collecting a pass from Max Jorgensen and scampering over for a try.
The Wallabies led 20-3 but only for three minutes.
Argentina struck back as winger Mateo Carreras cut through a huge hole in the defence.
On 38 minutes, hooker Julian Montoya smashed over from a tap penalty. Australia led 20-17 at half time.
Veteran prop James Slipper came on for his 139th cap, equalling George Gregan’s Wallaby record, but after that all the records were grim for the Wallabies.
From the restart, Argentina camped on the Australian line and took the lead after 48 minutes as No.8 Juan Martin Gonzalez picked up the ball from a five-metre scrum and dodged through the defence.
From another five-metre scrum after 58 minutes, the Puma backs smashed the Wallabies backwards to set up a ruck against the foot of a post. Flanker Pablo Montera picked up and charged over.
After Joaquin Oviedo touched down, Tate McDermott hit back for the Wallabies on 69 minutes at which point Australia capitulated.
Fullback Juan Mallia scored tries in the 72nd and 76th minute. Oviedo touched down again and, with the last attack of the match, centre Lucio Cinto scampered over.
That took Argentina’s total past the previous record 61 points Australia conceded to South Africa in Pretoria in 1997.
Santiago Carreras landed his second conversion from the touchline to take the margin to 40, the second biggest in Wallaby history. They lost by 45 to South Africa in Johannesburg in 2008.
Before going off, Tomas Albornoz had converted six tries and also kicked two penalties.
Ben Donaldson kicked 10 points for Australia and Tom Lynagh booted their last conversion.
— with AFP
Originally published as Historic low as Wallabies torn to shreds by Argentina
Why Wallabies can expose vulnerable All Blacks
Despite the Wallabies being in a shocking run of form, they could expose an underperforming All Blacks side in the Bledisloe Cup opener and push the NZ side to a place they have hardly ever been.
Injured Wallabies skipper targeting November return
Having tried to rush back from a shoulder injury without success, one-time Wallabies captain Liam Wright is now taking a steady approach to his recovery.