Santiago Carreras scored 23 points off the tee as Argentina punished Australia’s poor discipline in a 28-26 win in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.

Argentina scored one try through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the rest of the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium.

In a frantic opening spell, the Pumas took the lead through a fifth-minute Carreras penalty before Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i barged over to score a converted try two minutes later to give the home side the lead for the only time in the match.

The advantage was wiped out almost immediately when Argentina claimed the restart but after a knock-on, the Wallabies earned a scrum free-kick. Captain Montoya, leading the side in his 50th Test, then attempted a charge down and scored a try for Argentina.

Carreras converted and kicked a penalty three minutes later and Argentina led 13-7 after just 15 minutes.

Two more Carreras penalties – he had four in the first half – gave the Pumas a 12-point half-time lead and he kicked his fifth in the 44th minute after the Wallabies were called for obstruction to extend Argentina’s advantage to 22-7.

Two more Carreras penalties put Argentina 21 points ahead with 16 minutes to play, but the Wallabies roared back with two tries for Filipo Daugunu and another for Andrew Kellaway, trimming the deficit to two points with a minute left.

However, the Pumas’ defence stayed firm in the closing stages to earn their second win of the tournament and avenge their 28-24 loss to Australia in Townsville a week ago.

Despite the result, Australia remain top of the Rugby Championship table with Argentina bottom after South Africa’s surprise victory over New Zealand. All four teams have two victories after four rounds of matches.

“It was so emotional in the last 15 minutes,” said Carreras.

“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.” he 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.”

When the Rugby Championship resumes on September 27, New Zealand will host Australia at Auckland’s Eden Park and the Springboks play Argentina in Durban.

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