All Blacks raise their game to beat fighting Pumas

NeW PLYMOuTH: Flanker Vaea Fifita marked his first Test start with a brilliant solo try which lifted New Zealand from the brink of defeat to a 39- 22 win over Argentina in the third round of the Rugby Championship Test.

Trailing by seven points, 22-15, and down to 14 men in the 50th minute, a listless and disorganised All Blacks team appeared to be facing its first-ever Test loss to Argentina yesterday, who found sudden inspiration after seven straight Test defeats.

But Fifita, described by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen this week as “a real physical beast”, picked up a loose pass in midfield and ran 40m around the flank of the Pumas’ compressed defence to score the try that levelled the scores.

Late tries to Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett sealed the win, keeping New Zealand unbeaten in the Rugby Championship this season.

While the All Blacks won by six tries to one, they had to consider themselves lucky to have avoided their first loss to Argentina in 29 Test meetings.

“The Pumas really took it to us, as we expected, and it was a tough Test match,” All Blacks captain Kieran Read said.

“I’m really pleased with the way we stuck at it.

“It was another one of those testing times in the second half and to come out of it I’m really proud.”

Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez scored a try among 16 points as the Pumas fully stretched New Zealand, pushing it to the brink of panic before Fifita’s contribution changed the tide of the match.

■ PeRTH: Australia and South Africa fought out a thrilling 23-23 draw yesterday.

The Springboks clawed back from 20-10 down early in the second half to hit the front 23-20 before Bernard Foley kicked a levelling penalty goal for the Wallabies 10 minutes from time.

The draw left South Africa unbeaten in six internationals this year, while the Wallabies earned their first points in the Rugby Championship after two defeats to New Zealand.

The Wallabies looked on target to push on to victory when they extended their 13-10 half- time advantage to lead 20-10 seven minutes after the resumption.

It was the Springboks set-piece that turned the game in the second half winning key line-outs and disrupting the Wallabies scrum.

The draw meant the Springboks have not beaten the Wallabies in Australia since their 38-12 romp in Brisbane in 2013.

“It was an awesome effort in the second half,” Springboks skipper Eben Etzebeth said.

“We said at half-time that we had to work on a couple of things and we almost pulled it through.

“The scrums went really well for us and we also got rewards from the maul.”

Asked hot he felt about the draw Etzebeth said: “It’s difficult, you always want to win these games and would have loved it to be us but unfortunately a draw.”

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said he was disappointed his team did not close out the match.

“We wanted to have a win tonight no doubt, but it’s a young team learning about how to deal with those situations and we need to get better because with 10 points up we should have gone on with it,” Cheika said.