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

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

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.”

Delguy try lights up first half

Argentina were under intense scrutiny before the match for the way they handled the scandal surrounding Matera and team-mates Guido Petti and Santiago Socino.

On the pitch, they 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.

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)