Australia missed a last-minute penalty as they drew 16-16 with Argentina in the final game of the 2020 Tri-Nations.

A penalty and skipper Michael Hooper's converted try hauled Australia level but Reece Hodge's penalty went wide.

The result means, as expected, New Zealand are the Tri-Nations champions.

Argentina, who drew 15-15 with Australian two weeks ago, finish second in the table, while the Wallabies are third.

Australia had it all to do in the second half of a match that was played in torrential rain in front of a socially distanced crowd of just over 10,000 in Parramatta.

They had replacement lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto sent off for a dangerous tackle in the 60th minute but when Argentina's Lucas Paulos was sent to the sin-bin, the Wallabies took advantage to drive Hooper over from the back of a maul for his 20th Test try.

The Wallabies piled on the pressure in the closing stages but as he did in the 15-15 draw, Hodge missed a late chance to secure victory for his side.

The full-back also had a potential match-winning kick come back off the post from 50 metres in Australia's first Test of the season, a 16-16 draw with the All Blacks in Wellington.

Delguy try lights up stormy first half

Argentina were under intense scrutiny before the match for the way they handled the scandal surrounding Matera and team-mates Guido Petti and Santiago Socino.

On the pitch, they fell behind to a Hodge penalty after lock Marcos Kremer was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle at a ruck.

Nicolas Sanchez, who kicked all of Argentina's points in the 15-15 draw, hammered over a penalty from around halfway to draw the Pumas level.

Australia skipper Hooper was also shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle before Domingo Miotti - with Sanchez off the field for a concussion check - slotted Argentina into the lead.

Then from a line-out deep in their own half, Argentina drove back the Wallabies' pack some 40 metres before scrum-half Felipe Ezcurra broke away. He flipped the ball to Delguy, who handed off a desperate tackle to race over the line and put his side into a 13-3 lead.

Miotti also kicked a penalty in the second half as Argentina eyed a season-ending victory, but Australia did just enough to earn the draw.

"Argentina are a tough cookie to crack," said Hooper. "We'll build from that, we're not happy with that performance. We weren't able to get a win in our last game."

Line-ups

Australia: Hodge; Wright, Petaia, Paisami, Koroibete; O'Connor, White; Sio, Paenga-Amosa, Alaalatoa, Simmons, Philip, Hanigan, Hooper (capt), Wilson

Replacements: Fainga'a, Bell, Tupou, Salakaia-Loto, Valetini, Gordon, Simone, Banks

Argentina: Carreras; Delguy, Orlando, De la Fuente (capt), Boffelli; Sanchez, Ezcurra; Chaparro, Montoya, Kodela, Alemanno, Kremer, Grondona, Isa, Bruni

Replacements: Gonzalez, Vivas, Zeiss, Paulos, Gorrissen, Bertranou, Miotti, Chocobares

Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZ)