Argentina’s emphatic response last year to being beaten by Australia has the Wallabies bracing themselves for a Pumas backlash in Sydney on Saturday.
The Australians beat Argentina 20-19 in La Plata in the first of the teams two Rugby Championship meetings last September.
Stung with being beaten on home soil, the Pumas more than redeemed themselves a week later in Santa Fe, thumping the Wallabies 67-27.
The Australians will therefore be on high alert at Allianz Stadium this weekend after needing a stoppage-time try to defeat Argentina 28-24 in Townsville last Saturday.
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“We do know what’s coming,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said on Friday.
“We experienced it first hand last year, and it wasn’t nice at all.”
Wilson knows that his team will have to produce a better performance than last weekend to secure back-to-back wins over the Pumas.
“We were down for 84 minutes on the weekend and only just got the win,” he said.
“It’s about building on our performance last week. We have a few errors in our game, which we know we need to improve to beat these guys again.
“It’s just about getting back to our normal discipline, which is just not giving away penalties, silly mistakes and silly errors to get the opposition into the game.”
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Wilson’s Queensland teammate Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is set to add impact and physicality off the bench on Saturday, with the powerful lock finally getting another opportunity at Test level.
“You can see how badly he wanted to get back in this gold jersey,” Wilson said.
“He’s worked very hard and now he’s got an opportunity in gold again, and I’m really happy for him.
“He’s a senior figure in the Reds and Wallabies teams. He’s really bought into what we’re doing.”
Wilson also expected Tane Edmed to handle the pressure of being Australia’s chief playmaker after being named to replace injured flyhalf Tom Lynagh (hamstring).
“The way he’s been training for the last couple of months has been really impressive,” Wilson said of Edmed, who will start a Test for the first time after two previous appearances for the Wallabies off the bench.
“He’s a really good communicator to the forwards and to the outside backs, which is key to that role, and he backs himself.”
The match between Australia and Argentina gets underway at 2pm AEST.
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