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WELCOME back Wallabies. It's been a while.
A hat-trick to Israel Folau has helped Australia score a stirring seven-try victory over Argentina in Rosario, and avoid The Rugby Championship wooden spoon in emphatic fashion.
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Despite twice being reduced to 14 men, the Wallabies finally rolled out their A-game and registered their biggest Test win against the Pumas in 13 years. It was also the biggest win by the Wallabies since two 60-point thrashings of USA and Russia at the 2011 World Cup.
MATCH CENTRE: Video highlights, scores, statistics from the Wallabies' big win
A try to Folau in the second minute silenced the hostile crowd, and though Argentina never gave up, the Wallabies raced out a 25-3 lead before halftime and were never seriously headed.
The Wallaby fullback picked up two more tries just before and after halftime, and five-pointers were grabbed by Adam Ashley-Cooper, Joe Tomane, Benn Robinson and debutant Bernard Foley as well.
Star performances in gold were found all over the park.
Backrowers Michael Hooper and Scott Fardy duelled for man-of-the-match with tireless efforts, and Tomane's constant linebreaking caused the Pumas huge problems.
Collectively, however, it was the maligned Wallaby pack who deserved the greatest plaudits, after enduring an early scrum assault and ultimately gaining dominance over the Puma scrum in the last 10 minutes.
Defensive problems were the only black mark - Argentina's poor handling helped keep them out of jail - but the win provided Ewen McKenzie with a hefty turn of the wheel after early struggles in his coaching reign.
The Wallabies led 25-10 at halftime after a dramatic opening period that saw the Wallabies triple their average per-game try tally, but somehow also show signs of vulnerability as well.
Pumas centre Felipe Contepomi was celebrating his record 87th and last Test but the Wallabies exploited the sentimentality by running plays at the 36-year-old from the get-go.
Tomane burst through a midfield gap in the second minute and though the play broke down, from an ensuing lineout the Wallabies struck.
Spinning the ball wide to Tomane's left wing, the Brumby got half-past Horacio Agulla and offloaded to Folau, who cruised in from five metres out in the second minute.
A third Tomane involvement - again in the midfield off Quade Cooper's pass - unfolded from the re-start but Folau dropped a long pass, and a probable try went begging.
The Aussies had dominance but several more lost balls and a charged down kick from Cooper saw Argentina camp on the Australian line.
For the next eight minutes, the Wallaby scrum came in for hellish treatment in the same spot as seven scrums were packed down.
Four penalties against them saw James Slipper given a yellow-card, but when Benn Robinson replaced him, the next scrum was repelled and the Aussies escaped with a phyrric victory.
Good defensive pressure and some territory saw the Wallabies pick back up however, although Argentina's frequent mistakes helped enormously.
A Christian Lealiifano penalty in the 24th minute saw them actually extend their lead with 14 men, but Nicolas Sanchez pegged it back with a penalty of his own.
A Scott Fardy break down the left sideline saw him go close to scoring but a shoulder charge from Pablo Matera stopped him short - and earned the Puma a yellow card.
The Wallabies made the most of their advantage in the next 10 minutes, with good attacking presusre. Lealiifano hit another penalty in the 30th minute and a second try came three minutes later.
A loose pass from Tevita Kuridrani was re-gathered by Folau, who got outside Juan Imhoff and raced down the right sideline. He fed Genia, who gave it to Adam Ashley-Cooper to race 20 metres and score.
Minutes later Folau strolled in his for his second when a cut-out pass from Rob Simmons gave him a yawning gap.
The Wallabies' unstructured defence was tested by the Pumas, however, and they struck back just before halftime when Cooper, Folau and Genia all missed a stepping run from Marcelo Bosch.
The Wallabies stayed on the field at the break again and it worked to keep their heads in the game.
Two minutes after the game resumed, a nice inside ball from Cooper to Folau when attacking the line saw the fullback shrug off a tackle and race 10 metres in for his third under the posts.
Things looked rosy for the Wallabies and their broad smiles indicated it. They were premature grins.
The Pumas weren't finished with yet, and Australia's worsening defensive problems allowed them to surge back into the game.
After a sustained attack on Australia's line, scrumhalf Martin Landajo punched over from a metre out to bring the Pumas within 15 points.
Things grew more concerning for Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie when Rob Simmons was carded for an off-the-ball, no-arms tackle on Contepomi in the 50th minute.
Australia blew another try minutes later when a Tomane clean break saw Michael Hooper drop a pass cold with a run to the line open.
A Cooper penalty soon after helped ease the pain, however.
Outstanding work by the Wallabies backrow stemmed the bleeding, with Hooper, Scott Fardy and Ben Mowen like rabid dogs in defence and over the ball.
Tomane scooped up a loose ball in the 64th minute and after shrugging off three tackles, the rookie sprinted 50 metres to score and cease the nervous assault on McKenzie's fingernails.
Hooper's amazing performance led directly to the Wallabies final two tries, with a surging run helping Robinson pick up a simple line-run try, and a the flanker offloading to Foley in the final minute to bring up 50 points.
AUSTRALIA 54 (Israel Folau 3, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Bernard Foley, Benn Robinson, Joseph Tomane tries Foley 2, Christian Leali'ifano 2, Quade Cooper cons Leali'ifano 2, Cooper pens) bt ARGENTINA 17 (Marcelo Bosch, Martin Landajo tries Nicolas Sanchez 2 cons pen) at Estadio Gigante de Arroyito. Referee: Wayne Barnes.
See how the action unfolded in our match blog below.
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