Australia squandered the chance to move back into the top four of the World Rugby Rankings after only managing a 23-23 draw with South Africa in Perth.

At 20-10 up with just over half an hour left to play the Wallabies looked on course to achieve the margin of victory needed to replace the Springboks in third place.

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But, as they did against the All Blacks a fortnight ago, Michael Cheika’s men surrendered the lead and had to settle for the first stalemate between the sides in 16 years.

Following an exchange of penalties between Elton Jantjes and Bernard Foley, it was the Springboks who crossed the whitewash first, Jesse Kriel chasing down his own kick to score in the 26th minute.

Australia found an immediate response though through Kurtley Beale, the mercurial back touching down for his third try in as many games. Foley converted that score and one from Tatafu Polata-Nau, who barged over from the back of a maul, in addition to a penalty for a 20-10 lead.

A Jantjes penalty and Malcom Marx’s converted try levelled the scores before Jantjes nudged South Africa ahead for the second time in the match with a third penalty on 68 minutes.

Foley restored parity with a long-range effort but it was South Africa who finished the strongest, relentlessly pounding the Wallabies’ defence to try and force the breakthrough. In the end, they resorted to going for a drop goal but Jantjes’ effort went wide.

South Africa, ranked third, picked up 0.16 of a point for the draw, taking their total on to 85.81 points, while Australia are marginally worse off than before kick-off in Perth, in fifth on 84.05.

SECOND-HALF SURGE 

New Zealand have taken over from South Africa at the top of The Rugby Championship after surviving a scare against Argentina in New Plymouth.

A fly-half masterclass from Nicolas Sanchez, in contrast to that of his opposite number Beauden Barrett, and a monstrous 53-metre effort from the boot of Emiliano Boffelli, conspired to hand Argentina a 16-15 lead at the break.

The All Blacks managed three first-half tries through Nehe Milner-Skudder, on his return to the All Black ranks after almost two years out of the side, Anton Lienert-Brown and Israel Dagg but Barrett was unsuccessful with all three conversions.

Boosted by Sanchez’s try on the stroke of half-time, Argentina increased their lead to 22-15 at the start of the second half when Boffelli landed his second penalty and Sanchez added another while New Zealand were down to 14 men after Barrett was sent to the sin-bin.

But, as they so often do, the All Blacks stepped up several gears in the latter stages, back-row Vaea Fifita sparking the second-half surge with a brilliant individual try from 45 metres out. Lima Sopoaga made no mistake with the touchline conversion and then added the extras to tries from full-back Damian McKenzie and Barrett as New Zealand made it three wins from three in The Rugby Championship.

With the result going according to the formbook, neither the All Blacks or Argentina’s ranking was affected. New Zealand stay top on 95.21 points, over five clear of the chasing pack, while Los Pumas are 10th on 78.00 points exactly.