“I am actually proud,” mentioned Australia head coach Joe Schmidt.
“We made a couple of issues exhausting for ourselves, giving them a giant begin at residence, a giant crowd and tough situations.
“We put ourselves straight again below stress by dropping restarts, however we fought, scored tries and created another probabilities that might have been nice.”
Juan Martinez Gonzalez scored Argentina’s solely attempt early within the first half and penalties from Gloucester’s Santiago Carreras gave the Pumas a wholesome lead going into the latter levels.
Jake Gordon and Rob Valetini each crossed for Australia, with Noah Lolesio including a penalty and two conversions.
It left the sport on a knife-edge heading into the ultimate minutes and alternative fly-half Donaldson was introduced with a easy penalty kick to present the Wallabies a welcome victory.
Regardless of the win, Australia – who host the British and Irish Lions subsequent yr – stay rooted to the underside of the standings behind Argentina, New Zealand and runaway leaders South Africa.
Australia, who had been thumped twice at residence by the Springboks in August, face Argentina in Sante Fe in a rematch on 7 September.