Wallabies avoid defeat with come from behind win over Argentina

I feel sorry for the Argentinians. On the other hand: well played by Australia!

Well, I do feel sorry for the Argies, but at the same time I ask myself why? They're highly successful team, although they have no won many competitions, they still produce major wins/upsets, and it is just a matter of time before they become a real pain in the *** (more so) for other teams...

I remember reading about Wimbledon and Roger Federer saying don't feel too sorry for Andy Murray, he is a highly successful player in his own right. I feel that does reflect Arg.

They have already achieved more this tournament that most people (myself included) expected. They've been ahead against NZ, they've been ahead against Aus, they've drawn with the boks... that is more than the "whipping boys for the first few years" that I predicted...

They were also a little unlucky here as the winning try was scored because Phipps ran through the gap created when Polata-Nau reached out from the bottom of the ruck and grabbed the defender's ankle.

Well in the build up to Argentina's 2nd try, no 22 (the winger) steps in to touch.

So no they weren't unlucky. Australia were just able to put themselves in a position to win the game

"no 22" is Juan Imhof. It's not Egypt or Germany teams that they cannot learn the names. And for "rememberthemer" it's Marchelo Bosch how gets traped by Tafu. sure you are from the south so you probably watch the quarter final between Argentina and New Zeland, he kick that 50m penalty and tackle everyone. Instead of promote the rugby from Argentina thew hardly mention it and put a highlits from the second half. Now everyone they are talking about Argentina, when one month ago they claim that we are going to lose every match by 50 points. fuck you all

Because that sort of comment is really promoting Argentina... I can understand frustration but you could hardly expect anyone to realistically believe Argentina currently number 8 in the world to really put up a great fight against the top 3 in the world (all according to the IRB rankings)...

I think Argentinian fans need to be careful with their reactions. In fact I have seen a few comments saying Argentina WILL be the best team in the world soon... It swings both ways, don't be silly, be happy with the achievements so far, and don't be unrealistic. You'll end up with the commentators curse: "He'll get this kick easily, he never missed from this distance, and the angle is so easy for him......oh he missed"

Calm down.. Just because he doesn't know the name of every Argentinian player doesn't mean people look down on Argentina.. It's just a fact that people in the South don't know them well since most of the players play in France (personally I don't follow the competition).
Add to that that Argentina has not played as often as the other tier 1 nations because they only just were included into the "rugby championship". I'm sure that now that they are playing more often people will also get to know their players.

As for the highlights of the second half: Not too much happenend in the first half. The only highlights I can remember are the two missed tries by Australia and great Argentinian defense. The rest was more like a blooper reel with all the knock ons by both teams.

And how is it a bad thing that everyone's talking about Argentina? Isn't that what you want? And I must also congratulate your team. I was one of those that expected them to not be able to compete abroad. I never said 50 points, but they do play a lot better than I expected.

For future posts, it might not be a great idea to finish with "fuck you all" if you want people to take you seriously though..

Dear Eggman, I can't agree more with all your replay to Tito - thank you very much for your high opinion on our team and also for your elegance on replying to my fellow countryman on his uncalled and inexplicable phrase. With attitudes like his we will never be taken seriously and fortunately he does not represent our values.

A bit oversensitive here. Clearly you're an Argentina fan who knows the players names, but you can't expect every other fan to know your players, especially when they've probably only seen them once or twice in the last several years. Tell me, do YOU know who played 22 for Australia?

Tito, please take that kind of behaviour to youtube or sissyballdump.com. We are all rugby supporters and although we are from different countries, support different teams and have different opinions, we basicly treat eachother with a lot of respect.

At one point we will all learn the names of that bold flyhalf, that old prop, that excellent number 8 and the banana-kick-man. Just give it some time... ;-)

Lol Tito's a bit precious ain't he?

Not your best highlights reel, Rugbydump... For example, what about the two times the Wallabies went over the goal line but didn't score (I think I read they were in the first half)? I'd be more interested seeing that than a penalty or conversion being kicked!

In that two tmos australia was not even close to score, accept you were lucky.

In that two tmos australia was not even close to score, accept you were lucky.

What? Both times Australia were inches from scoring.
Samo knocked on just as he was about to put the ball down. Sharpe was held up over the line.
That's as close to scoring as you can get without actually scoring.

Wayne Barnes, I really wish you Hell right now...

A really mixed bag by Australia I thought.. at times they looked good, especially with ball in hand and when they didn't knock it on or lose it at the breakdown every 2 minutes or so..

Their defense was very poor.. They weren't tested too often as they had most the posession, but when they did their line broke way too quickly. Especially around the time the two tries were scored they were just terrible in defense.

Quade Cooper once again did what Quade Cooper does. He was at times horrible (forward passes, intercepted passes, the charge down that led to the try, dropped balls etc.), but his passes in attack were usually pretty good, and he did spark something in the Australian attack that was missing before..

In the end I thought the better team won.. Had Australia been a bit more ruthless and used their chances better (i.e. hitting the post twice with penalties and going over the try line twice without scoring) they could've (and should have) put another 20 points on Argentina. But because they failed to do that it got much closer than it should have been. Should be an interesting game in Argentina anyway!

Tito don t be so hostile, of course they don t know argentina s players names we used to play between each other every 2 or three years and in the sanzar countries NH rugby is not much followed. It s an honour to be in this tournamente and to be so well considered by our rivals, and to be honest although everyone supports with passion the pumas no one here expected such a good start. Very proud of our country s rugby!!! GO PUMAS!! see you here in two weeks AB!! cheers!!!

Tito, ¿pretendés que nos tomen en serio y que los fanáticos del rugby empiecen a conocer a nuestros jugadores, pero los mandás a cagar a todos por no hacerlo!?! Por favor, hermano, calmate un poco y ubicate. Se supone que el rugby se juega con respeto, tanto dentro como fuera de la cancha.
Los Pumas ya sorprendieron a todo el mundo y están haciendo mérito para ser reconocidos y para ser tenidos en cuenta. Pero eso no pasa de un día para el otro, ni mucho menos si los argentinos les faltamos el respeto a los demás.
El mejor apoyo que les podemos dar a los Pumas es ser correctos, respetuosos y comportamos como buena gente. Saludos, Paco Videla

Agreed.

Although I admire the Pumas and their commitment a lot I am gladly surprised by the way the have played so far. Before this tournament it was a real mystery wether they would be able to perform in a competitive way or not. But they have really proved that they are up to the task. They still need to get that extra ruthlessness and belief the other top tier teams have in order to win a game, but I am sure they are going to get that much sooner than we all expected.
For those who don't know about argentinian rugby, it is an amateur sport in Argentina. Nevertheless, most of the players who participate in this Rugby Championship play professionally in Europe. Those who don't but have been eligible to represent the country have financial support and special training from the national rugby union. So the B-Team that defeated France in June (and lost to the same team one week later) had still a majority of amateur players on the field, because the A-players were preparing for the Rugby Championship. It is just a matter of time until all the argentinian rugby get a quality and intensity boost, motivated by the performance of the Pumas so far. It will be very interesting to follow up on that evolution from now!

Old Bill Mclaren didn't only learn there names, he dug up a story about each of them to personalize the players. I fear that those days of a more intimate rugby experience are gone. the wallaby commentattors remind me of homer journos covering professional sports teams in north america. more interested in the aussie systems and idiosyncracies that learning the name of the valiant team they are facing.

here's to the pumas hopefully taking an ozzie scalp in buenos aires, they've done it before to big teams, i for one would be thrilled to see that (not has much as if ireland had finished their game against the ab's, but thrilled)

vamos los pumas!

I never doubted the Pumas would be a very tough team to beat, that they will compete with all the other teams in the 4N. And they will get better and better.
GO PUMAS!

Canadian, the Aussie commentators used the argentinian players names.
What are you going on about.

Alot of people in the SANZAR countries don't know many of the Argentinian players yet, for obvious reasons.
This will change (and already is) as they play more often.

The Argies are playing very well. They are tough, excellent in defence, very strong at the rucks and are getting more dangerous in attack (they were efective on kick returns and by switching play on the inside - it wasn't just the pick and drive which they've always been good at).

For Australia it was an ok preformance, considering they dropped the ball over the line once, got held up over the line once and missed a few penalty goals. It could have been a comfortable win for them.

When you look at their injury list, you can't expect much more than scrapping wins.
They have about 25 injured top-line players. Now the new winger, Shipperly, is also in doubt with injury.

Here's a team full of currently injured players that would be in the squad if they weren't out with injury :

15. Lachie Turner, 14. Drew Mitchell/Dom Shipperly, 13. Rob Horne, 12. Christian Lealiifano, 11. Tomane,10. James O'Connor, 9. Will Genia, 8. Wycliff Palu, 7. David Pocock, 6. Ben McCalman, 5. James Horwill, 4. Sitaleki Timani, 3. Dan Palmer/Salesi Ma'afu, 2. Stephen Moore, 1. Sekope Kepu.

Even Phipps, who played well against Argentina, might have lost his spot to Nic White of the Brumbies, if White wasn't also injured.
If you consider also that Elsom is gone as a top level player and Dan Vickerman has retired, both because of long term injury it's been a massivley disrupted season for the Wallabies.

Deans deserves a little slack when you look at the injury toll.

The Argentinians played well and were unlucky to win although the Aussies made several errors that contributed to those two . In terms of defence I do think the Pumas have the fiercest defence in world rugby. The hits they were putting in against the Aussies and All Blacks were brutal. Regarding Juan Imoff: I do think he is one of Argentina's best backs. For Montpelier in the Top 14 he has made some excellent line breaks and on most occasions will always beat his man.

Argentina in an annual competition is excellent for them as they will face top quality opposition that will serve them in good stead for the 2015 World Cup. By the way for those curious to why the Argentinians are playing their home in Mendoza (for South Africa), La Plata (for the All Blacks) and Rosario (for the Aussies) its to expand rugby into some of the areas where football is the main sport and to win over new fans.

Moreover, it could be that in the future Argentina may bid for the Rugby World Cup in the 2020's..

Hey Tito, don´t be so sensitive, chabon! I´m Argentinean too, and there´s no problem for me that the other country fans, don´t know the 30 Pumas names, you have to be patient, cause untill now i´m so sure that every fan knows: F.Lobbe, Hernandez, Camacho,Roncero, Leguizamon, Albacete and Agulla, amd maybe somo more...But wait 2, 4 Nats more and every fan will know every argentinean player, it´s just a matter of time...they have to use to play against us...Salute for every rugby fan around the world and GO PUMAS!!!

Like many, i'm supporting the argies, not because it's fashionable, but because we need a strong argentina team in the world.
i'm supporting the seleccion since many years, even whenh they narrowly beated "my" team, France. Stronger will be argnetina, stronger will be world rugby.

Furthermore, this "aussie" highlights don't give any good vision of the argie perf. it sums up the lack of consideration of argentina in the south.... i really can't wait to see argentina gives a good slap to SA or Australia, and it will be very very soon some smiles will then disappear (the same smiles who said that argentina would be beaten by 50 at every match...)

Fuerza pumas!

What are you talking about?
You think the Southern Hemisphere rugby community got together and made rugbydump, a website, put up a limited highlights package as some sort of scheme to disrespect Argentina? What an insane idea.

What disrespect are you talking about? Every coach, player and commentator has commented on Argentina's tough defense and committed and whole hearted displays.
No one has said they would lose by 50 points.

Get over your little victim complex. You aren't even Argentinean.

always more easy to comment on argies courage just after a very tight victory... what the point with rugbydump? what an insane deformation

i was referring to harsh comments from nz and aussie medias and fans saying argentina hadn't its place in the 4N. ignoring it is just hypocritical. and you don't have to be argie to constate that....

not a question of being argie, it's a question of: what rugby we want for the next years?
- the same party between the same 8 or 10 major nations since 30 years
- or encourage a stronger and global rugby with teams like argentina as flagship, and spain, portugal, madagascar, kenya, russia as emergents. all these teams need top-level matchs between world cups, rather to discover and be trashed every 4 years.
it took 15 years for argentina to be accepted, it says a lot...

I don't know where you're getting this idea that people in the South consider Argentina unworthy for inclusion the Southern Hemisphere competition. I have honestly not heard a single person in my group of friends and family say anything disparaging about Argentina. Quite the opposite actually. Since their performance in the 2007 World Cup I've been hoping that they would be included in an annual competition. Even in the media here in NZ I haven't heard anything negative about this. It's been known for a long time that Argentina would be included in the Tri Nations, and my impression is that people (in NZ anyway) have simply been eager to see how Argentina would fare. And so far from what I can tell, most people are pleased with the Pumas' efforts. Please don't think that just because we are from the Southern Hemisphere that we look down on other rugby nations, because for most real fans, that simply is not the case. Cheers.

What are you talking about?
Argentina was included with the support of everyone in the tri-nations.
If they didn't have that support they wouldn't be part of the comp.
The only think stopping them joining earlier were concerns around financing. I.E. they don't have a fully professional set up domestically and so couldn't afford to support their own high performance unit. Another major issue was actually French T14 clubs, who kicked up a huge stink when this deal got done, because they didn't want their star Argentinians to go to the comp during the French domestic season.
Thankfully the IRB got on board and offered them funding, and passed a new ruling forcing French clubs to release players. Aus, NZ and SA decided to cut them into the tv deal as well. This has actually cost Aus, SA and NZ money, because attendances and tv viewing figures aren't as big for tests against Argentina. But for the good of their rugby they were invited to join SANZAR anyway.

No one has talked shit about their rugby either. Every single comment made by coaches, players and fans has been positive. Commenting on their good defense, good ruck work and improved attacking ability. Graham Henry has volunteered to coach them in their first campaign and no one has complained.

Everyone is trying to help Argentina. Stop making up ridiculous conspiracy theories.
The Southern hemisphere unions are doing everything in their power to support and help Argentinian rugby. It was SANZAR that got the IRB to provide funding to Argentina, it was SANZAR that got the IRB to pass a ruling forcing French clubs to release Argentinean players for international duty.

SANZAR is Argentina's best friend right now.

Well said that man!

I really want to thank you all people for supporting Argentinian rugby with such respect. I feel proud of the sport itself when I see comments and replying with such a good manner.

I am proud also for Los Pumas, personally I DID thought that we were going to get our ass kicked, but their performance, especially the heart and sweat they leave in the field, fills me with honour..

Thank you all for letting us be part of this. Cheers

The wallabies look like total rubbish at the moment, a second rate team coached by a second rate coach. There's a reason why Robbie Deans didn't get the all blacks coaching job. Granted, some good players are out with injuries but this just shows the lack of depth in Australian rugby (mainly the ARU's fault). Also, the culture surrounding the wallabies is shit. I have never seen a wallabies team with so few supporters and so much cynicism surrounding them, they are seriously starting to lose the support of the home crowd. get your act together wallabies and pull your finger out ARU (possibly the most useless rugby governing body other than the IRB itself).

I am an Argentine. Proud of our National team and really grateful to the Sanzar for the chance of playing against the best teams in the world. I had the opportunity of visiting Hamilton and Auckland in NZ and was able to see a lot of sympathy and respect for Los Pumas. It is also known the long lasting friendship between South Africa players and the Argentinian ones. What I don't get is why Australians seem to be less welcoming to our team than the other two Southern countries. Especially they that have counted in their National team a couple of immigrant Argentinian players: the great Topo Rodriguez and Patricio Noriega.
As for Tito and his post, I regret that and feel sorry for such a foolish attitude.

Osos, mate, why do you think Aussies are less welcoming?
In what way?
Give me an example of how Australia has been unwelcoming to Argentina.

The ARU fought harder than anyone to expand SANZAR. They have always been pro-expansion. Right now they are trying to expand to Japan and the US. They have been trying to expand SANZAR for years. They fought harder than anyone to get the French clubs to release players and get the IRB to fund Argentina.

Jon,
maybe I did not express myself rightly. It was an impression, what seemed to me as an attitude in declarations by some rugbiers like Paul Campese during the last World Cup ("Argentines are not ready for a Four Nations") and what I read in some websites by some Australian rugby fans. I recognize I am ignorant of the facts that you point out, and for that I say thanks a lot! also to the ARU.
Actually, after writing what I wrote, buuum! I found that article by John Eales that really touched me for his generous comments about the Pumas' spirit and sacrifice.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/pumas-show-commitment-is-in-their-dna-20120916-260t6.html

Therefore my apologies and thank you for your post.

Ha ha, no worries mate.
Let me be the first to say welcome to you personally. I think it's great that Argentina is on board, I was very excited to see them join. It's great that such a proud rugby nation is finally getting the respect it deserves.

And please disregard Campese, he's known for saying controversial and idiotic things. He insults Australian players all the time, in fact he has insulted everyone. No one listens to him anymore.

This an interesting article that I totally endorse. It couldn't be said better.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/pumas-show-commitment-is-in-their-dna-20120916-260t6.html

Mate, even this article is written by John Eales (who fought for Argentinean expansion for years), former Australian captain. It's written in an Australian newspaper.
Australians are pro-Argentina.

Why do you think the opposite???

Jon,
that is why I will be eternally grateful to Rugby: that it made me know people from everywhere better and go beyond first impressions, even now as a fan a former player!
It is exciting to see the way in which this Rugby Championship will help thousands of kids from so distant countries to know and appreciate each other's culture and differences with a lot of shared values.
All the best.

Well played Aussies! You've surpassed us this time. The match was very interesting, but it still shows The Pumas's weakness. Past the 65 min Mark my country's team can't handle the pressure anymore. The same happened vs the Blacks as well.
Lets hope we can snatch a win as Locals. Hopefully we will.

To all Kiwis and Aussies going to see the matches in Argentina, i hope you enjoy our country, it is very beautifull, has a BS government, but beautifull nonetheless.
BTW, i apologize in advance if the crowd starts cheering/chanting/Booing.

Regards.