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14-man Wallabies steal draw against Los Pumas in rain-sodden in Tr-Nations finale

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The Wallabies’ year that started so promisingly has ended with another deflating Tri Nations draw with Argentina.

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The Wallabies and Pumas finished deadlocked at 16-16 on Saturday night after fullback Reece Hodge missed with a long-range last-minute penalty goal attempt – yet again.

Hodge also had the chance to boot Australia to victory with three minutes to go in their 15-15 draw with the Pumas two weeks ago in Newcastle.

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Wallabies coach Dave Rennie on team selections on Los Pumas

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Wallabies coach Dave Rennie on team selections on Los Pumas

The luckless star also struck the uprights with an after-the-siren shot in the Wallabies’ season-opening 16-16 stalemate with the All Blacks in Wellington in October.

He could only hang his head in despair after his latest miss in driving rain at Bankwest Stadium.

Truth be known, though, it could have been much worse for the Wallabies had Hodge not slotted three earlier penalty goals plus a pressure conversion from out wide 12 minutes from fulltime to tie the scores up.

The Pumas, roundly written off after las t week’s 38-0 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand and then having inspirational skipper Pablo Matera and two teammates stood down for disciplinary reasons, looked like keeping the Wallabies try-less for the second game running.

But the draw still consigned Australia to the tournament’s wooden spoon and an unflattering one-from-six winning record in 2020 under new coach Dave Rennie.

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One coach left smiling was ex-Wallabies mentor Michael Cheika, working as an assistant for the Pumas.

Rennie said pre-game he’d settle for the Wallabies winning ugly to finish the year off on a high.

Instead, the Wallabies almost lost in atrocious fashion, fumbling their way through most of the 80 minutes, half an hour of which they played a man down.

Michael Hooper, in his last Test as captain before taking a year-long sabbatical in Japan, was yellow carded in the first half for a no-arms tackle before replacement forward Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was sent off for ma king dangerous contact to Santiago Grondona’s head on the hour-mark.

Salakaia-Loto was making his return from an ankle injury that ruled him out of Australia’s last two games, but lasted just nine minutes before receiving his red card for a tackle gone wrong on the Pumas flanker.

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The Wallabies looked down and out when they lost Salakaia-Loto.

But Hooper and Hodge restored hope with a try to the skipper in the 67th minute as the Wallabies ultimately battled back from a 10-point first-half deficit to salvage a draw.

Wallabies 16 (Try to Michael Hooper; conversion and 3 penalties to Reece Hodge)

Pumas 16 (Try to Bautista Delguy; conversion and 2 penalties to Dominigo Miotti, penalty to Nicloas Sanchez)

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Tom 4 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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