The Wallabies' World Cup preparations lay in tatters after a demoralising 34-31 Rugby Championship loss to Argentina in Sydney.
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A last-gasp try to No.8 Juan Martin Gonzalez broke Australian hearts after recalled winger Mark Nawaqanitawase appeared to have saved the Wallabies' blushes with a 95-metre intercept try with five minutes remaining on Saturday night.
A risky selection call from coach Eddie Jones hurt Australia badly as former Wallabies mentor Michael Cheika masterminded the historic Pumas victory at Commbank Stadium.
The stirring comeback win from 10-0 early, then 31-27 late, marked the first time Argentina have conquered Australia in successive Tests between the two nations.
The Pumas pumped the Wallabies 48-17 in San Juan last August before Dave Rennie was sacked as coach and replaced by Jones after an ill-fated spring tour of Europe.
Now, though, Jones faces the grim prospect of taking the Wallabies to France for this year's global showpiece without a win.
Unless Australia can rebound from Saturday night's defeat and a 43-12 hammering at the hands of South Africa to open the Rugby Championship with success in either of their two looming Bledisloe Cup clashes with the All Blacks, Jones will be winless in his second coming as Wallabies coach heading to the World Cup.
Early on, Jones' five team changes from last week's pounding in Pretoria looked like being a masterstroke as Nawaqanitawase, powerhouse centre Samu Kerevi and giant lock Will Skelton all excelled to help the Wallabies to their 10-0 lead.
A quick tap and sharp footwork from Nawaqanitawase put Australia deep on the attack and, with the Pumas defence stretched, Quade Cooper found Kerevi lurking out wide and the centre's inside ball was enough for Len Ikitau to dive over in the corner in the fourth minute.
But the try came at a huge cost, with Ikitau forced off with a shoulder injury sustained while scoring and sent to hospital for scans.
His departure and having no outside backs on the bench forced the Wallabies into a reshuffle with Carter Gordon's introduction at inside centre breaking up the potent Cooper-Kerevi midfield partnership.
The entire complexion of the match changed.
Suddenly the Wallabies attack was disjointed while Cooper and Gordon, two playmakers, defensively looked vulnerable alongside each other, but Jones didn't necessarily agree the disruption was a game changer.
"It also created an opportunity for us to learn a little bit more about ourselves," he said.
"It's a great experience for Carter to play 12 and at some stage in his career he's going to play 12."
Gordon tried his heart out and was only denied a breakout try by a desperate ankle tap, but the 22-year-old was playing out of position in the biggest match of his life.
The Wallabies found themselves hanging on at halftime with a player down following the sin-binning of lock Richie Arnold for deliberately slowing the ball down.
The Pumas had fought their way back into the game through a try to fullback Emiliano Boffelli, who converted and added a penalty to leave the match evenly poised at 10-10 at the interval.
The visitors hit the front for the first time when hooker Julian Montoya forced his way over five minutes into the second half before Wallabies halfback Nic White darted over to level the scores again.
When winger Mateo Carreras beat a fatiguing Dave Porecki to score out wide in the 68th minute, Argentina led 26-17.
But a Kerevi try, then Nawaqanitawase's rousing solo effort had Wallabies fans in raptures before the Pumas snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
"To sum it up, gutted is probably one word that comes to mind," said Wallabies captain James Slipper.
"We turned up and started playing some good rugby but we kept taking pressure off the Argentinians and they kept coming back.
"Ill discipline really hurt us tonight again - a yellow card and a couple of penalties put us at the wrong end of the field and you just can't win Test matches playing that sort of rugby.
"There's quite a few of us who have to look at those penalties and rectify them pretty quickly because performances like that, we won't go far at the World Cup."
Australian Associated Press
