Argentina player ratings from the second Test at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Saturday 5 September: Argentina 28-28 Australia, every mark with its evidence.
Argentina had the lead, the ball and a quarter of an hour. Then two of their backs put a hand out.
The Pumas drew 28-28 with Australia in Mendoza from 14-0 down, and lost the series by one defeat and one draw. The match report has the night. These Argentina player ratings have the marks: the highest goes to the captain, the lowest is shared by a fly-half and both props, and the one that will be argued belongs to a centre who finished the Test in the sin bin with a 7.
Who’s your Argentina man of the match? Tell us below.
Argentina player ratings: the match in numbers
| Argentina | Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| Tries | 4 | 4 |
| Conversions | 4 of 4 | 3 of 3 |
| Yellow cards | 3 | 1 |
| Tries from a quick tap | 1 | 2 |
| Possession, last 10 minutes of the first half | 83% | 17% |
| Phases for the 65th-minute try | 23 |
Possession from ABC’s live count, phases from the Guardian’s, tap tries from both feeds. Scorers and cards from Rugby Australia’s live coverage.
15. Santiago Carreras — 6.5/10
Kicked four from four and put the 61st-minute penalty into the corner that began the drive for the lead. Then, on 70, with Australia a metre out and the pass on its way to Filipo Daugunu, put out an arm. Penalty try, yellow card, 28-28 and thirteen men. He knew as he did it. Eight points kicked, seven handed back.
14. Rodrigo Isgró — 6.5/10
Broke clean from the restart on 67, straight after Matera’s second try, and needed an ankle tap to stop him. Went up for the high ball that followed and could not hold it. Ran away with a kind bounce off a box kick on 43 and gave the move before Ruiz’s try its first spark. One of three Mendoza men in the 23, and the one who came closest to giving the home crowd more.
13. Lucio Cinti — 7/10
Carried Argentina from their own lineout to halfway on 17, straight after the disallowed Australian try. Then stuck a hand into Harry Wilson’s pass on 69 with Fraser McReight free in the tramline. Yellow card. The 7 is the mark that will be argued, and the case for it is narrow: his hand cost a lineout on the 22, the next hand cost seven points and a man, and 68 minutes of straight running, in a backline that otherwise handed the ball to the pack, sit above the 6.5s around him. Take the card off him and he is the best back on the field.
12. Faustino Sánchez Valarolo — 6.5/10
Spilled under the hit from Daugunu on 13, the biggest of the first half on either feed’s account, and was wrapped up by Rob Valetini and McReight on 52 in a maul Australia held long enough to get the scrum. Two turnovers in contact against a defence that was hunting them. Nothing came through his channel that either broadcast feed caught.
11. Ignacio Mendy — 7/10
Ran the line off Joaquín Moro’s inside ball on 39 and went through the hole the shift to the right had opened, for the only first-phase strike try of the night. Gave way to Mateo Soler on 75.
10. Nicolás Roger — 6/10
Kicked a penalty dead on six minutes with a lineout in the Australian 22 available. Carried alone into contact on 12 and lost the ball. Threw a pass to nobody on 33 that ended a ten-phase attack, and kicked another ball dead off a wicked bounce on 43. Then, with the last play, took Wilson’s tackle behind the gainline and found touch to close the draw. The 6 will read as generous, and the case for it is that the plan asked him to hand the ball to the pack and he did, and the pack scored three of the four tries from inside five metres. The case against is the list above.
9. Simón Benítez Cruz — 6/10
Box-kicked twice into bounces that went Australia’s way, on 13 and 43, and floated the pass after the hooter that Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii shot up on to end the half with Argentina five metres out. Took Tom Wright’s forearm on 40 and won the penalty. Went alone down the blind side on 61 with a pass on, and sparked the move before Ruiz’s try with Isgró. Off on 70 for Gonzalo Bertranou.
Read also: the same XV marked in Jujuy, where Moro took an 8 and the front row a 4.5.
1. Boris Wenger — 6/10
Packed into a scrum that won a free kick on three and a penalty on six, the second with Taniela Tupou pinged, then gave Australia penalties on 19 and 44. A scrum that traded blows rather than winning them, and a 6 after his 7.5 in Jujuy. Off on 52.
2. Ignacio Ruiz — 7/10
Scored on 55 from close range four minutes after Valetini had flattened him, taking the contact and going through it. Held up over the line on 61 at the end of a 15-metre maul, and driven backwards by Wilson on 63. Threw to a lineout that produced the strike try on 39 and the maul on 61 without a recorded loss on the Argentine throw. Off on 70, up from a 5 in Jujuy.
3. Pedro Delgado — 6/10
Packed down for all five scrum decisions that went one way or the other: Argentina’s free kick on three, penalty on six and penalty after the hooter, Australia’s penalties on 19 and 44. Neither tighthead owned the night. Off on 52.
4. Efraín Elías — 7/10
Played all 80 minutes in the second row after coming off the bench in Jujuy, and the lineout and maul he is picked for produced the try on 39, the 15-metre drive on 61 and the lead on 65. A lock who plays the full 80 in that pack is marked on that.
5. Franco Molina — 6.5/10
Carried in the first attack on three. Went to the sin bin on 27 for slowing the ball down with his team already on a warning, and Max Jorgensen scored from the quick tap while he was walking. Matera’s first try came as his ten minutes ended, with Jeremy Williams in the bin opposite. Off on 67. The carrying and the maul earn the mark; the card is why it is not a 7.
6. Pablo Matera — 8.5/10
Charged one-handed into Len Ikitau on 13, straightened a sideways attack on 32, and scored twice: under the posts on 36 after the five-metre scrum, and under the posts again on 65 at the end of 23 phases. Then, on 72, with Australia building down the right and two men extra, got over the ball and won the steal that kept the draw alive. Argued the disallowed try with the referee on 16 and was proved right by the TMO. The highest mark on either side.
7. Guido Petti — 6.5/10
Nothing the live feeds recorded with his name on it, the same review as Jujuy. The difference is what the lineout he runs produced: the strike on 39, the maul on 61, and no lost throw either feed noticed. Off on 75.
8. Joaquín Moro — 7/10
Tapped the free kick on three that put Argentina five metres out inside three minutes. Carried to the line off the pod on 39 and slipped the inside ball to Mendy for the try, the pass of the night. Held inches short off the back of the scrum after the hooter. Off on 52, which Argentina’s attack did not need. An 8 in Jujuy and the same player here for 52 minutes.
Replacements
16. Leonel Oviedo — 6/10
Came on for Ruiz on 70 with Argentina down to 13, and packed into the scrums on 77 and 79 that the Guardian called messy and that held anyway, with Australia needing a penalty from one of them to win.
17. Mayco Vivas — 6.5/10
On for Wenger on 52. Held the scrum on 77 and the one on 79 that Australia needed a penalty from to win the Test.
18. Francisco Moreno — 6/10
On for Delgado on 52. A 4.5 in Jujuy for scrum penalties, and none conceded here in 28 minutes that included the scrum on 79.
19. Tomás Lavanini — 6.5/10
On for Molina on 67. Thirteen minutes of defending a draw with thirteen men, on the field for both late Australian attacks and both scrums that had to hold.
20. Juan Martín Scelzo — 6.5/10
On for Moro on 52. On the field for the 15-metre maul on 61 and all 23 phases of the drive that produced the lead on 65, in a pack that was winning the collisions by then.
21. Facundo Cardozo — 6/10
Debut on 75, a Mendoza man in front of his own province, with Argentina at 13 and defending. Five minutes, the last-play exit, and a cap.
22. Gonzalo Bertranou — 6/10
On for Benítez Cruz on 70. Ten minutes at nine with thirteen men: a high kick on 77 that landed in Australian hands, and a last-minute run from the 22 that went backwards before Roger kicked it out. The second Mendoza man on the field.
23. Mateo Soler — 6/10
On for Mendy on 75. Five minutes of chasing with no ball to chase.
Argentina player ratings by WeTalkRugby from the live broadcast. Series coverage: Rugby Australia’s live report.
Your turn
Matera has the 8.5 and two tries. Cinti has a 7 and ten minutes in the bin, and Roger has a 6 after two balls kicked dead. If either mark is wrong, say what it should be, and say who above them earned less.
