Certainly a game of two halves. I was considering going to bed after the dire first half, but luckily persisted, and was rewarded with a good second half. Australia butchered a couple of clear try scoring chances in the first-half, but did enough in the end to snatch the win, which I'm sure they will be happy about! I have said many times that teams need to learn how to win close game - it doesn't just happen overnight, and I think it will take Argentina a season or two to regularly win games like this.
I thought the Argentine tight-five as a whole were very good, and I'm starting to quite like Julio Farias Cabello at 6. He may not be the most dynamic player, but he has a massive work-rate. Leonardi again made a massive impact when he came on - surely he must get a start sooner rather than later? Hernandez was very good again, especially when he took on the line, and he is a phenomenal defensive 10. I thought the centres were solid, and Amorosino was a step up at fullback, but the wings were a bit mixed. A three wings used had some great moments with ball in hand, but Agulla and Imhoff in particular made some costly misses on defense.
Australia I thought were generally outplayed up front, but Alexander looked good with ball in hand, while Douglas made a very solid debut. Hooper was a lot quieter this week (and missed quite a few tackles), but Samo was pretty good....apart from dropping the ball over the tryline! Dennis again had a very good game, with a big work-rate, and is starting to show his effective running game at test level. Higginbotham made a good impact when he came on, as for a second week in a row he actually tried to play like a forward.
Phipps was ok (one good break lead to Ioane's try), while Cooper was poor. I was expecting him to have a good game, but I was clearly wrong here. McCabe in general was very good. He offers a very strong direct runner in midfield, and his try saving tackle on Camacho was superb (not sure if the yellow that followed directly after was warranted or not). AAC was strong again at centre, while I thought both wings had good games, with Ioane really looking for work this week. Barnes made a pretty good job of fullback, though his goal-kicing, which had been superb this tournament, let him down a bit.
Can't wait to watch these two teams in Argentina, as I predict we will have a different winner!
