Argentina hangs on to beat Australia 28-26 in Rugby Championship match in Sydney

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SYDNEY (AP) — Argentina took advantage of some early handling errors and indiscipline by the Wallabies for a 19-7 halftime lead and held on to beat Australia 28-26 on Saturday in a Rugby Championship match at a sold-out Sydney Football Stadium.

The Wallabies came into the match on a high after their spirited last-minute 28-24 win last week over Argentina in the north Queensland city of Townsville.

There was a flurry of early scoring, but most of it was to the visitors with the Pumas leading 10-7 after just 10 minutes. After Argentina took the lead in the fifth minute on a penalty goal by Santiago Carreras, Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i barged over to score a converted try two minutes later to give the home side a brief lead, its only of the afternoon.

Argentina claimed the restart but after a knock-on, the Wallabies earned a scrum free kick. But captain Julián Montoya, leading the side in his 50th test, attempted a charge down and scored a try for Argentina.

Carreras converted and kicked a penalty goal three minutes later and Argentina led 13-7 after just 15 minutes. Two more Carreras penalty goals — he had four in the first half — gave the Pumas their 12-point halftime lead.

Carreras stayed perfect early in the second half and kicked his fifth penalty goal in the 44th minute after the Wallabies were called for obstruction to extend Argentina's lead to 22-7 and beyond a two-try margin.

Carreras was on the board again 10 minutes later to extend Argentina's lead to 25-7 and the Wallabies slowly starting seeing the match slip away.

Australia reduced the deficit with late tries but stout defense by the Pumas earned them their second win of the tournament. Argentina is now 2-2, including a first-ever home win over the All Blacks.

“It was so emotional in the last 15 minutes,” said Carreras, who slotted all eight of his point-scoring kicks. “It was such an amazing game to watch (for the crowd). I’m really proud of the boys for this win."

Australia captain Harry Wilson said the Wallabies “made it really hard for ourselves, discipline let us down badly.”

“We are normally a disciplined team." Wilson added. "We have a lot of points in us but a lack of discipline made it hard for us. The support has been truly special and we’re going to keep trying to earn it. It really does lift us.”

Australia head coach Joe Schmidt said he was “dominated by disappointment.”

“We had enough of the game to get the result, but a lot of it was our own errors," he said. "Argentina are a really good team, but when we’re making 11 line-breaks to three and scoring four tries to one and we don’t get a result? It’s incredibly frustrating and disappointing."

Coming into Saturday's match, Australia won two of its three tests in the Rugby Championship. The Wallabies had an upset win over the World Cup champion Springboks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg and a narrow loss in Cape Town to open the tournament before last week’s win.

All four teams in the tournament are idle next weekend. When it resumes on Sept. 27, New Zealand will host Australia at Auckland's Eden Park and the Springboks play Argentina at Durban, South Africa.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby