JUJUY, Argentina (AP) — Australia took its scoring chances and showed steel in defense, leading end to end to beat Argentina 27-21 Saturday in the first of two rugby test matches.Tries in the first 10 minutes to hooker Brandon Paenga-Amoso and flyhalf Carter Gordon gave Australia an early buffer which it protected against an adventurous but less clinical Argentina.Australia clung to its final six point margin for the last 27 minutes of the match when tiredness induced by altitude in the mountainous venue saw some sloppiness and imprecision invade its game.Its inability to retain possession, especially in the last 10 minutes, gave Argentina chances to snatch a win but the Australian defense rose to the occasion.“Here at altitude the shoulders are sore, the lungs are sore,” said backrower Tom Hooper who scored Australia’s only second half try. “It was a hard test match and the whole 23 got us across the line.”
Three wins for Australia under KissAustralia remains unbeaten in three matches under former rugby league star Les Kiss, who succeeded Joe Schmidt as head coach.“I think the way Les communicates is very calming,” Hooper said. “He’s brought a really good mindset in terms of how we’re training and if you want to be world class, get good results and lift a bit of silverware you have to train world class.”
