Australia 16-16 Argentina: Reece Hodge misses late penalty as Tri-Nations sides draw again

Australia attack ArgentinaAFP

Australia dominated possession but found it hard to break down Argentina's stubborn defence

Tri-Nations: Australia v Argentina

Australia: (6) 16

Try: Hooper Pens: Hodge 3 Con: Hodge

Red card: Salakaia-Loto

Argentina: (13) 16

Try: Delguy Pens: Sanchez, Miotti 2 Con: Miotti

Australia missed a last-minute penalty as they drew 16-16 with Argentina in the final game of the 2020 Tri-Nations.

Argentina, who left out captain Pablo Matera and two other players after comments on their social media accounts came to light, led 13-6 at half-time following Bautista Delguy's try.

A penalty and skipper Michael Hooper's converted try hauled Australia level but Reece Hodge's penalty went wide.

The result means, as expected, New Zealand are the Tri-Nations champions.

Argentina, who beat the All Blacks earlier in the tournament and drew 15-15 with Australia two weeks ago, finish second in the table, while the Wallabies are third.

Australia had it all to do in the second half of a match that was played in torrential rain in front of a socially distanced crowd of just over 10,000 in Parramatta.

They had replacement lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto sent off for a dangerous tackle in the 60th minute but when Argentina's Lucas Paulos was sent to the sin-bin, the Wallabies took advantage to drive Hooper over from the back of a maul for his 20th Test try.

The Wallabies piled on the pressure in the closing stages but as he did in the 15-15 draw, Hodge missed a late chance to secure victory for his side, pushing his kick from 45m to the right of the posts.

The full-back also had a potential match-winning kick come back off the post in Australia's 16-16 draw with the All Blacks in Wellington.

"Argentina are a tough cookie to crack," said Hooper. "We're not happy with that performance. We're disappointed we can't get a win in our last game."

Getty Images

Pablo Matera hugged his team-mates at the end of a gruelling game at the Western Sydney Stadium

Delguy try lights up first half

The Australian national anthem was sung in a local indigenous language for the first time at an international sporting event before kick-off.

Argentina, under intense scrutiny for the way they handled the scandal surrounding Matera and team-mates Guido Petti and Santiago Socino, fell behind to a Hodge penalty after lock Marcos Kremer was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle at a ruck.

Nicolas Sanchez, who kicked all of Argentina's points in the 15-15 draw, hammered over a penalty from around halfway to draw the Pumas level.

Australia skipper Hooper was also shown a yellow card for a high tackle and Argentina responded with 10 points in those 10 minutes.

Domingo Miotti - with Sanchez off the field for a concussion check - slotted Argentina into the lead.

Then from a line-out deep in their own half, Argentina drove back the Wallabies' pack some 40 metres before scrum-half Felipe Ezcurra broke away. He flipped the ball to Delguy, who handed off a desperate tackle to race over the line and put his side into a 13-3 lead.

Miotti also kicked a penalty in the second half as Argentina eyed a season-ending victory, but Australia did just enough to earn the draw.

Getty Images

Fly-half Nicolas Sanchez thanked the Argentina fans for their support during a hard tour on and off the pitch

Ledesma proud of 'awesome' Argentina effort

The Pumas arrived in Australia having not played in a year but, after two weeks in quarantine, secured their first ever win over the All Blacks and the draw with the Wallabies a week later.

They were beaten 38-0 by New Zealand last week which was followed by controversy over how the team marked the death of football legend Diego Maradona.

That was followed by the discovery of the three players' discriminatory comments posted on social media between 2011 and 2013.

None of them played on Saturday but the team had a number 10 on the arms of their shirts in a belated tribute to Maradona.

"We had no rest in the middle - while the other teams were resting, we kept going four weeks in a row," said head coach Mario Ledesma.

"Without playing the whole year, a lot of injuries throughout, sickness, Covid, and the whole lot, I couldn't be prouder of this team.

"And the difficult week that we had, because it was really, really, really, really tough. I don't know if you can imagine how tough it was, and to come out with this effort. Awesome."

New Zealand beat Australia and Argentina to finish top of Tri-Nations, which replaced the Rugby Championship after South Africa withdrew from the tournament because of Covid-19 restrictions

Line-ups

Australia: Hodge; Wright, Petaia, Paisami, Koroibete; O'Connor, White; Sio, Paenga-Amosa, Alaalatoa, Simmons, Philip, Hanigan, Hooper (capt), Wilson

Replacements: Fainga'a, Bell, Tupou, Salakaia-Loto, Valetini, Gordon, Simone, Banks

Argentina: Carreras; Delguy, Orlando, De la Fuente (capt), Boffelli; Sanchez, Ezcurra; Chaparro, Montoya, Kodela, Alemanno, Kremer, Grondona, Isa, Bruni

Replacements: Gonzalez, Vivas, Zeiss, Paulos, Gorrissen, Bertranou, Miotti, Chocobares

Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZ)

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