There were emotional scenes in Buenos Aries as Argentina celebrated their first home victory over New Zealand with a 29-23 triumph in front of a raucous crowd.
The Pumas avenged last weekend’s 41-24 Rugby Championship defeat in Cordoba that had seen the All Blacks return to the top of the world rankings.
Juan Martin Gonzalez and Gonzalo Garcia scored tries either side of the break as Argentina ended their 15-match run without a home win against New Zealand that stretched back to their first meeting in 1976.
There were also 13 crucial points from the boot of Santiago Carreras.
Billy Proctor, Fletcher Newell and Samisoni Taukei’aho went over for New Zealand. However, they were left to rue an ill-disciplined performance that saw three players sent to the sin-bin – including two in the space of three minutes shortly before the break.
Damian McKenzie’s last-minute penalty at least secured a losing bonus point for the visitors, who top the table with six points from two games.
Argentina remain bottom but are now level on points with South Africa, who beat Australia 30-22 earlier on Saturday, with all four teams having won one game.
