Andrew Kellaway scored his fourth try of the Rugby Championship as in-form Australia beat Argentina 27-8 to go second in the table on Saturday.
The Wallabies have a runners-up spot behind champions New Zealand in their sights with one match against the Pumas to play after scoring three tries in their first ever Test in Townsville, moving above South Africa after they were beaten by the All Blacks.
Emiliano Boffelli dragged a penalty wide before Reece Hodge burst through a tackle after throwing a dummy and applied the finish following a swift side-step.
Hodge's early opening try came after a powerful run from the outstanding Samu Kerevi, who crashed over for a score of his own and Quade Cooper made it three successful kicks out of three to put the vibrant Wallabies 17-3 up at half-time following a penalty from Boffelli.
Julian Montoya touched down early in the second half at the back of a driving maul, but Boffelli missed the conversion and was also off target with another penalty.
James O'Connor sent a kick sailing through the posts after coming on for his first Test of the year while Marcos Kremer was in the sin-bin.
Replacement fly-half O'Connor set up Kellaway, the leading try-scorer in the tournament, for a simple finish nine minutes from time in another impressive showing from Dave Rennie's men.
Wallabies hitting their stride under Rennie
Australia, up to third in the rankings, were clearly brimming with confidence after beating world champions South Africa twice and they have won three consecutive Tests for the first time since November 2017 with head Dave Rennie making his mark.
The Pumas, on the other hand, have lost five in a row and have not scored more than 13 points in a game during that dismal run. The last time they went longer without scoring more than 15 points in a Test was a five-game stretch from March to August in 1990.
Kerevi causes havoc
The pace and power of centre Kerevi caused Argentina all sorts of problems.
Kerevi gained 90 metres with his 14 carries and beat six defenders in an all-action display.
Australia 'fell off a cliff' in biggest-ever Test defeat
Australia suffered their biggest-ever Test defeat on Saturday, as Argentina came from behind to win 67-27 in the Rugby Championship.
And Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said his team simply "fell off a cliff" after taking a 17-point lead.
Having snapped an eight-game winless run in the Rugby Championship with their last-gasp victory over Argentina last week, Australia were looking to keep the momentum going.
And they looked well set to do just that as tries from Carlo Tizzano and Andrew Kellaway propelled them into a 20-3 lead.
But Mateo Carreras and Julian Montoya, who was playing for Argentina for the 100th time, dragged Argentina back into it and paved the way for Australia's capitulation after the break.
Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin Oviedo, Juan Cruz Mallia and Lucio Cinti all crossed for the Pumas in the second half, with Santiago Carreras' conversion condemning Australia to their record defeat.
"To lead a Test match 20-3 and get run down in the manner which we did is really disappointing," said Schmidt.
"We cannot let a game get away from us like it did and fall off a cliff.
"We lost connection in our defensive line. We were forever chasing them.
"We didn't put enough pressure on at the breakdown, so they were operating off a lightning-quick ball, and it's just too difficult to keep chasing a team on a hot day when they’ve got the ball and going forward."
Australia's previous record Test defeat had come against South Africa in 1997.
Matters do not get any easier for the Wallabies, who now face two matches against Schmidt's native New Zealand as they aim to avoid finishing bottom of the pile.
Second-place Argentina, meanwhile, will tussle it out with Rugby Championship leaders South Africa.
Australia ease to T20I series sweep of Scotland
Australia overcame a rough start to their innings to ease to a six-wicket victory over Scotland in the teams' third T20I on Saturday, clinching a series sweep at The Grange.
Having been inspired to comprehensive victories by some expert batting from Travis Head and Josh Inglis in the first two matches of the tour, the visitors found themselves dropped to 18-2 as they chased a target of 150.
Scotland had been led by Brandon McMullen's 56 runs off 39 balls as they achieved a respectable figure despite the best efforts of Cameron Green, who finished with figures of 3-35 for the tourists.
It was also McMullen whose terrific diving catch sent Jake Fraser-McGurk walking for a duck before Head (12) swept Brad Currie's fourth-over delivery straight to George Munsey to put Australia in a spot of bother.
However, Green replicated his bowling heroics with the bat, hitting an unbeaten 62 off 39 balls to ensure Scotland's joy was short-lived.
Even the wicket of captain Mitchell Marsh, who dragged on for 31 runs from Jack Jarvis' rasping delivery in the 10th over, could not halt the tourists' momentum, and they got over the line with 23 balls to spare for just one further loss.
Data Debrief: Green shows all-round credentials
Australia's third straight victory in Edinburgh was slightly more testing than their previous two as the top order faltered, but they could count on an exceptional all-round showing from Green.
Having taken three wickets in a T20I for the very first time, he proceeded to also register his best batting performance in the format, beating his previous best of 61 versus India in 2022.
Had Scotland succeeded in setting a more challenging target, Green might have had his eyes on an even more impressive total, having slammed five sixes and two fours.
Inglis breaks Australia T20I record to confirm Scotland series win
Josh Inglis' record-breaking hundred helped Australia wrap up a series victory over Scotland, winning the second T20I by 70 runs at The Grange on Friday.
Inglis struck seven fours and seven sixes in a ruthless batting display, becoming the quickest player in Australian history to reach 100 runs in the 20-over format.
The tourists had earlier got off to a poor start with the bat as Travis Head was bowled out for a duck by Brad Currie (3-37) in the first over.
Jake Fraser-McGurk (16) would follow shortly after, only for Inglis to take control of proceedings as he reached his ton in just 43 balls, putting Australia in a strong position.
He would eventually fall victim to Chris Sole in the 18th over, with Cameron Green (36), Marcus Stoinis (20) and Tim David (17) helping to set Scotland a target of 197.
The hosts then found themselves with a mountain to climb, having seen four wickets fall before the halfway stage of their innings.
Brandon McMullen's knock of 59 offered Scotland a glimpse of a comeback, but the wickets continued to tumble as Stoinis (4-23) ripped through their lower order, sealing the triumph with the wicket of Chris Greaves (6).
Data Debrief: Record breaker Inglis
Inglis was the star of the show for the tourists, recording the quickest ton for Australia in T20Is, from just 43 deliveries.
He also recorded the joint-fastest century by a designated wicketkeeper-batter from a full-time nation, equalling South African Quinton de Kock's 43-ball hundred against West Indies in 2023.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
