MATCH REPORT: Argentina stayed alive in the Rugby Championship with a record, 67-27, rout of Australia in Santa Fe on Saturday.
Trailing 3-20 on the half-hour mark, Los Pumas burst into life and scored 38 unanswered points to put the match beyond doubt.
A try just before the 70-minute mark gave the Wallabies a slim hope of a comeback, but four tries in the final 10 minutes resulted in Australia’s biggest loss ever.
They moved up to second place in the standings, eight points behind South Africa.
With two Tests against the Springboks – at Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades (in Santiago del Estero) on September 21 and at the Mbombela Stadium (in Nelspruit) a week later – Los Pumas can still clinch the title.
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The scorers
For Argentina
Tries: Carreras, Montoya, Gonzalez, Matera, Oviedo 2, Mallia 2, Cinti
Cons: Albornoz 6, Carreras 2
Pens: Albornoz 2
For Australia
Tries: Tizzano, Kellaway, McDermott
Cons: Donaldson 2, Lynagh
Pens: Donaldson 2
Yellow card: Andrew Kellaway (Australia, 78 – cynical foul, offside near his own line)
Teams:
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Joaquin Oviedo, 21 Santiago Grondona, 22 Gonzalo Garcia, 23 Santiago Carreras
Australia: 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Ben Donaldson, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valentini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell
Replacement: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Josh Canham, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tom Lynagh, 23 Josh Flook
Referee: Pierre Brousset
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe, James Doleman
TMO: Marius Jonker