Terrible weather conditions, no wins in Rugby Championship play and having to perform away from home.

It all turned out to be exactly what Australia’s national rugby team needed to pick up its biggest victory of the year.

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Substitute fly-half Ben Donaldson booted through a last-gasp penalty after the siren in the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship match against Argentina on Saturday, surviving both the rain and the roar of a pro-Pumas crowd in La Plata to give the Aussies a massive 20-19 victory that took a second-half comeback to complete.

Spoiling the final test match of Argentina all-time caps leader (and hometown boy) Agustin Creevy, Australia - which entered this weekend’s match off the back of being the recipient of a pair of beatdowns by world champion South Africa in its first two rounds of Rugby Championship play - was far from perfect in the slippery weather but still staved off the danger of an 0-3 start in this year’s competition if it lost to an energized Los Pumas side.

The victory on away soil against a reigning Rugby World Cup semifinalist made for the best win yet in the tenure of first-year coach/former Ireland boss Joe Schmidt, with Jake Gordon and Rob Valetini scoring the Wallabies’ tries in the match at the Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi.

Proud of the grind 👊#Wallabies #TRC2024 pic.twitter.com/PSDn5hTzDw

— Wallabies (@wallabies) September 1, 2024

Meanwhile for Argentina, the fixture was a deflating sendoff for Creevy and a step back after its epic win in Round 1 against New Zealand in Wellington. 

The possibility of yet another Rugby Championship wooden spoon for Los Pumas now is looming if they don’t bounce back in Santa Fe next weekend, especially considering they get a pair of tests against the mighty Springboks right after that.

The hosts got up 10-0 to start the match, with a Santiago Carreras 12th-minute penalty followed up by Los Pumas’ only try of the match three minutes later through Juan Martin Gonzalez via an Argentine rolling maul. 

Still, the tourists gradually adapted to the weather and eventually found a breakthrough from Gordon in the 28th minute, who finished off a sweet sequence of passes that also involved Len Ikitau and Tom Wright - and converted only Australia’s second try in almost 200 minutes of play.

Carreras kicked his second penalty of the night to make it 13-7 to Argentina at the intermission, and he followed it up with another one a few minutes into the second half as the Wallabies once again struggled to look threatening on the attack, with a missed penalty from Noah Lolesio going into the break not helping matters. 

Then, Valetini and the rest of the Wallabies erupted for a crucial, morale-boosting try.

The flanker powered through the try line to help give Australia seven more points in the 50th minute, completing an Australian attack in which Ikitau broke away from a tackle and free into space while numbers joined around him with Valetini being the man to complete the job in the end.

It ended up being the final try of the match for either side, but far from the end of all of the drama. 

A Lolesio penalty 59 minutes got the Wallabies in front by a 17-16 margin as the heavy rain in La Plata - which had lightened up for much of the second half up to that point - returned with a vengeance. 

Los Pumas substitute Tomás Albornoz then got the hosts back in the lead with a penalty 10 minutes from time, and Creevy was subbed in a few minutes later as he hoped to deliver late and give his legendary Pumas career a storybook ending.

The Wallabies, however, had no time for a feel-good moment.

With Australia driving forward close to the Argentine try line, Los Pumas held on for their lives but Mayco Vivas went through the ruck illegally, setting Donaldson up for a chip-shot kick near the posts moments before the final siren wailed.

Argentina and Australia will clash again in Round 4 of this year’s Rugby Championship next Saturday.

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