Since that 25-25 draw in Cardiff – when a lastgasp Jonny Wilkinson penalty spared the Lions’ blushes at the Millennium Stadium – Argentina have reached three World Cup semi-finals, joined the Rugby Championship and beaten every major nation they have faced.
In short, they are no longer content to be the warm-up act for another nation’s party.
Should the respective sporting fortunes of the Australian and Argentinian sides continue along the trajectory of recent times, how long will it be before the Wallabies become the warm-up act?
Such talk may well have seemed blasphemous a decade ago when Australia’s status in the game appeared unshakable and Argentina were still establishing themselves at rugby’s top table.
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