Australia U20 coach Nathan Grey is confident his side will bounce back from a first-up loss in their inaugural TRC U20 campaign.
Australia went down to Argentina 25-6 in torrential conditions at Sunshine Coast Stadium last night with all points coming via the boot of flyhalf Joey Fowler.
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While possession and territory were evenly split, Argentina's scrum caused headaches in the deluge with Australia conceding five penalties up front.
"It was one of those situations where the game before us was really wet and we knew the conditions were pretty wet," Grey told media on Friday.
"We created a few opportunities in that first half that we should've really capitalised on with the rain and wind behind us. But full credit to the Argentinians, they made the most of their opportunities and they got the win."
"Scrummaging is always an interesting art and traditionally they're a strong side but I think our guys in terms of our execution provided a decent platform to play from and we'll look to improve."
Australia toiled all night with prop Jack Barrett (eight carries, two tackle busts), hooker Bryn Edwards (17 tackles) and centre duo Ronan Leahy and Jarrah McLeod (combined 10 tackle busts) among the standouts.
Captain Toby Macpherson was proud of the fight shown by his teammates in difficult conditions but said their best was yet to come.
"I think our takeaways will just be holding the ball, obviously it was a wet game but that can’t be an excuse. We’ve got to hold the ball and be able to build phases and momentum," Macpherson said.
"Argentina came out in the second half with a point to prove and we needed to come out firing a bit more and put on more pressure.
"That one stung but we’re a better playing group than that and by no means does that reflect the way we want to play footy. We’ll definitely get up leading into Tuesday and all eyes are on that."
Australia fans can expect to see new faces when Grey unveils his 23-man squad for next Tuesday's clash with South Africa.
"There's definitely some tired legs. All four teams at the TRC U20s have three five-day turnarounds in a row so we've got a 31-man squad for a reason.
This (TRC U20) is an opportunity to see guys playing at that next level and test themselves out. We've got some quality players across the park and we want to get them in some space, so we'll be looking to mix things up and play a nice brand of footy."
