The Wallabies did just enough to record a 25-19 victory over the Pumas in a scrappy match in Rosario on Saturday.
The win will come as a boost for Australia who have had to deal with a heavy injury toll this season, whilst Argentina will be frustrated at missing out on the opportunity to record their first victory of the Rugby Championship.
Both teams struggled to build any sort of meaningful momentum in a match dominated by the sound of the referee's whistle as the high error-rate continually snuffed out any continuity.
The visitors took a 15-9 lead into the half-time break with five penalties from the boot of Mike Harris, and it was not until the 65th minute that wing Digby Ioane got over for the first try of the game.
Argentina made a late surge when Juan Imhoff was forced over the tryline, but they ultimately came up short and had to be satisified with a losing bonus point as the Wallabies held on.
More to follow...
The scorers:
For Argentina:
Try: Imhoff
Con: Bosch
Pens: Hernandez 3, Bosch
For Australia:
Try: Ioane
Con: Harris
Pens: Harris 5
Yellow cards: Albacete (Repeated infringements, 25 mins) Sheehan (Repeated infringements, 74 mins)
Teams:
Argentina: 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (captain), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Leonardo Senatore, 19 Tomas Leonardi, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Nicolas Sanchez, 22 Juan Imhoff.
Australia: 15 Mike Harris, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Radike Samo, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Sitaleki Timani, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Dave Dennis, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Brett Sheehan, 22 Dominic Shipperley.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
