They may have needed a new law variation to get it done, but Australia are on the board in The Rugby Championship after a dramatic 20-19 win in La Plata.
The victory, Joe Schmidt's first as a head coach in the Rugby Championship, was forged through dogged defence and a collective improvement from Australia's forward pack, with spectacular individual performances from Len Ikitau, Carlo Tizzano and the ever-consistent Rob Valetini.
The Wallabies did however make life tough for themselves in terrible conditions for the second straight game as they turned over possession at almost every restart after points.
As for the final decision from referee James Doleman, the Wallabies benefited from a law variation that is in play for The Rugby Championship, where defenders must not play the scrum-half at the ruck, or the player acting as the scrum-half, in this case Wallabies prop Angus Bell.
Australia had worked their way under the sticks through some determined carries from the forward pack, which produced its best showing under Schmidt to date. When Ben Donaldson knocked over the penalty from right in front, the Wallabies rightfully celebrated a win that for much of the match had looked beyond them.
"It was obviously pretty stressful there the last few minutes, but I just loved how composed we were at the end, just going through our pick-and-drives and just really trying to grind there until we got a penalty," Wallabies captain Harry Wilson told Stan Sport.
"And it was just great patience from Tate at 9 there, directing things, and it was just awesome ton get the result at the end there."
The Pumas could however feel aggrieved that they did not get the chance to pressure the Wallabies from the restart. When Doleman awarded the final penalty he was heard saying there would be time for a restart, but after checking with his TMO it was determined that time had elapsed.
Argentina had earlier worked their way to a 10-0 lead, before Australia got themselves on the board with a nicely worked try to scrum-half Jake Gordon. After they had earlier gone 27 phases without making a metre, Australia used far more deception to open the Pumas up on 28 minutes as Ikitau turned the ball inside to Tom Wright, the fullback able to free his right hand and put Gordon under the sticks.
The Pumas went to halftime up 13-7 following another penalty, and a Noah Lolesio miss after the siren, the hosts having played the conditions better through their kick, chase and ability in the air.
That was largely the case in the second half too, which they opened with another penalty to take their lead out to nine, but the hosts lacked the polish inside the attacking 22 and created only sparing opportunities.
Australia, meanwhile, did at last find space through, and in behind, the opposition defensive line. After they were dominated up front by the Springboks, the Wallabies finally got some go-forward through the middle of the paddock, which allowed Ikitau and debutant Hamish Stewart a little extra time and space against a backtracking defence.
It was Ikitau who produced the half-break that led to Australia's second try, the outside centre hitting and spinning to beat his defender and then finding Marika Koroibete with the offload. From there the Wallabies forwards charged onto the front-foot ball, with Valetini providing the finish just to the left of the posts.
A Lolesio penalty later in the half gave Australia the lead for the first time at 17-16, before the Pumas immediately went on the offensive themselves following another butchered Wallabies restart and some helter-skelter play from the fly-half, who threw a horrible pass to lock Nick Frost.
Argentina looked destined to score what would have been a vital five-pointer when Tomas Gallo caught Frost napping and charged toward the tryline. But just as he was about to touch down, Gallo had the ball jolted free by a desperate Harry Wilson, who enjoyed a solid outing on his debut as the 90th Wallabies captain.
A penalty from replacement Tomas Albornoz did allow the hosts to retake the lead at 19-17, setting the stage for a dramatic finale as the conditions deteriorated further.
A few minutes later, Lolesio burst through on the counter but the fly-half's pass to young gun Max Jorgensen was slightly behind the replacement winger and it hit the deck. Still, Australia pressed further, their handling and, vitally, their patience, holding up as the clock wound down towards its conclusion.
Back on the field following a head knock to Isaac Kailea, Bell looked to have blown Australia's final chance at victory when he knocked on in front of the sticks. But just as he had done against Koroibete earlier in the half, Doleman pinged the Pumas for diving over at the ruck, gifting Donaldson a point-blank opportunity to seal an unlikely Wallabies win.
"We had a pretty clear plan, particularly at halftime in the conditions, with the wind, if we got the field position we were looking; I felt we maybe missed a few opportunities there we created, and it was going to be desperately frustrating if we didn't get the win in the end," Schmidt told Stan Sport
"But I was just delighted that we did get that final penalty and put it over."
Bell again showed his worth at scrum time and with ball in hand, the loosehead prop also producing one thunderous tackle that allowed Tizzano the opportunity to swoop in for one of his three breakdown steals in what was a superb showing from the Wallabies No. 7.
With Fraser McReight injured, Tizzano has stepped into Test rugby seamlessly and looms as a ready-made replacement for whenever the Queenslander may be sidelined. If Tizzano keeps playing like he did in La Plata, he could even put pressure on McReight as the Wallabies' first-choice openside.
Ikitau and Valetini meanwhile confirmed their status as world-class Test combatants. A controversial omission from Eddie Jones' World Cup squad, Ikitau has built slowly into this Test season after returning from injury against Georgia, but he was brilliant through contact against the Pumas.
And Valetini always seems to deliver, no matter the stage.
Where the Wallabies did not deliver however was from the kick-off as they put themselves immediately under pressure after scoring points themselves. Frost in particular had an unhappy night in the air, while Wilson and Koroibete were also guilty of knock-ons having either misjudged the flight of the ball or failed to communicate with their teammates.
That will be the focus ahead of next weekend's second Test in Santa Fe. But after two tough losses against the world champions, Schmidt and his Wallabies team will savour their one-point triumph away from home.
As they have avoided what increasingly looked like being a winless Rugby Championship and showed enough positive signs to suggest that the Schmidt blueprint is starting to bed in.