Rugby: The day Argentina almost beat the All Blacks

The Pumas go into Saturday's clash against the All Blacks seeking their first ever win over the three-time world champions.

30 times they have gone up against the All Blacks since 1985 and 29 of those occasions they failed to cause an upset victory.

The two sides played out a 21-21 draw in 1985 but the All Blacks should have won the game late, squandering a five metre attacking scrum in the closing stages.

16 years later though was the one that got away for the Pumas. Leading 20-17 late in the test in Buenos Aires, Felipe Contepomi missed a penalty that would have stretched the lead out further.

With time up Contepomi then 'did a Donald', failing to find touch and handing the All Blacks possession. On the counter, Ben Blair ran into space and found Scott Roberson out wide to score the match-winner in the corner.

Then that defeat the Pumas have got to within a single-digit margin of the All Blacks just once in their 15 tests.

Herald match report:

The All Blacks had to dig deep to keep a perfect record on their end of season tour.

A late try to loose forward Scott Robertson saw the ABs steal what would have been an improbable victory away from a spirited Argentine side. Andrew Mehrtens added the conversion from wide out and New Zealand held on to their slender four point margin for the last few tense minutes.

The home side had hit the front with ten minutes to go in front of a huge crowd at the River Plate stadium, before John Mitchell's side played their 'get out of jail' card to snatch the win.

A costly mistake in his first start as test halfback is likely to give Mark Robinson nightmares for some time.

Robinson bobbled a take of a kick inside the New Zealand in-goal area, allowing Lisandro Arbizu to dot down for the Pumas under the posts in the first half.

It was another silly error in the second half that led to Arbizu's second try. Doug Howlett passed the ball to no-one in particular inside his own goal area, and the opportunistic Argentinian second five-eighth simply needed to fall on the ball for another 5 pointer.

Just as in the other tests on this tour, the All Blacks begun slowly and inconsistently, with little inventiveness to their play and mistakes being capitalised upon by Argentina.

The only bright spot for the touring side in the first half was when a successful counter-attack started by Doug Howlett was finished on the other wing by Jonah Lomu, who brushed aside four would-be tacklers in his run to the goal line.

The All Blacks trailed by 10-8 at halftime.

The score see-sawed in the second spell, with Felipe Contempomi slotting the penalties for Argentina and Andrew Mehrtens answering for the All Blacks.

A stunned reaction at the way the match was swinging turned to desperation for the All Blacks late in the game, as they tried anything to get the win.

When 80 minutes showed on the clock the score was 20-17 to Argentina, with the huge crowd baying for their team to claim such a revered scalp as the All Blacks.

However, there were still five minutes of injury time to play, signalled by referee Young - just enough for an All Black miracle.

New Zealand secured the win with a try wide out left to Scott Robertson, when the Argentinian defence ran out of numbers in cover.