Pumas stun depleted Wallabies, Kiwis salvage some pride

Rennie admits team ‘not good enough’

SAN JUAN: Prop Thomas Gallo scored two tries as Argentina produced a sparkling attacking display to smash depleted Australia 48-17 in their Rugby Championship clash in San Juan on Saturday.

Argentina scored twice in the first six minutes and feasted off the Wallabies’ lack of experience to run in seven tries in their biggest ever victory over Australia and their largest in the southern hemisphere competition.

Wingers Juan Imhoff and Emiliano Boffelli, centre Jeronimo de la Fuente, flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez and replacement fly-half Tomas Albornoz also crossed for the Pumas, who took advantage of Australian errors in ruthless fashion.

The Wallabies scored tries through captain James Slipper and centre Len Ikitau, but bar a brief spell in the opening half never really threatened the hosts as the absence of leading players due to injury and personal reasons took its toll.

Only five of Australia’s starting 15 had more than 30 caps and they never got to grips with Argentina’s intensity having beaten The Pumas 41-26 last weekend in Mendoza.

The home side kept applying pressure with ball in hand and attacking kicks, and while the bounce of the ball favoured them, Australia were also their own worst enemies in not dealing with the threat.

“We really wanted to back [last week’s win] up but we fell short of standards today,” Slipper said.

“I thought the Argentinians were pretty good, they got the momentum behind them in the crowd and they’re a tough team to play catch up footy against.

“It’s been a really tough tour for us. We’ve got the South Africans twice at home now, we’re looking forward to that, getting back home in front of our fans.”

Argentina scored in the opening minute as Imhoff chased his own kick and when the ball was fumbled by Australia fullback Tom Wright, was able to race clear.

One try quickly became two as the home side powered over the line from close range, Gallo providing the finish touch.

The fast start continued as Australia finally got possession and after a barnstorming run from number eight Rob Valetini, Slipper crossed to score.

De la Fuente and Gonzalez punished Australian errors for two more tries in a helter-skelter first half that ended with the home team leading 26-10.

When Gallo scored his second try with 16 minutes remaining, any hopes of an Australian comeback were dashed, even after Ikitau crossed for his second try in as many weeks.

Further scores by Boffelli and Albornoz cemented Argentina’s superiority in what will be a sweet win for their former Wallaby coach Michael Cheika.

Australia handed debuts to prop Pone Fa’amausili and hooker Billy Pollard off the bench.

Australia coach Dave Rennie did not mince his words when he described Saturday’s loss as simply “not good enough”.

“Massive disappointment. Not good enough,” Rennie told reporters. “You could see there were four tries that were kicks in behind us. We certainly got dominated in the collision area.

“We created plenty of opportunities but we have to be patient. Rucks not a disaster, we just weren’t clinical enough.

“We lacked cohesion with a few changes. We’ll look at the footage but we’re better than that. It’s a massive disappointment. We want to earn the respect of the country and you don’t do it with performances like that.”

Australia return home to take on South Africa in two more Rugby Championship clashes, the first of which is on Aug 27 in Adelaide.