Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is "frustrated and disappointed" after his side failed to go top of the Tri Nations standings after their 15-15 draw with Argentina on Saturday night.
The winner of the match was set to leapfrog the All Blacks into first place, but the draw means all three teams are on six points, with Ian Foster's men on top due to a superior points differential.
Argentina does have a game in hand as they have two matches remaining, while the All Blacks and Wallabies have one.
Australia was left to rue numerous mistakes in the tryless encounter and playmaker Reece Hodge had the chance to win the match - as he did in the first Bledisloe Cup test - with a late penalty, but his game-winning attempt went wide.
For the second straight week Pumas playmaker, Nicolas Sanchez, scored all of his side's points, slotting five penalties from the kicking tee.
Rennie said his side never looked like scoring a try, let alone winning the match.
"[I'm] frustrated and really disappointed," Rennie said.
"At 15-6 we had control of the game - we should have closed that out.
"We felt if we could score straight after half-time we could probably blow the game out.
"They made a lot of tackles, we felt they were fatiguing and just hanging in there.
"We didn't put it out of them and it hurt us in the end - we've really got ourselves to blame."
Hodge went one step further and apologised to Australia for missing the game-winning kick.
"I feel like I've let the country down," Hodge told Fox Sports. "It's a pretty tough one to take at the moment.
"We were up 15-6 and had our chances to seal that game."
The Wallabies now have the week off while Argentina faces the All Blacks in Newcastle.
If the All Blacks record a bonus-point win over Argentina next Saturday in Newcastle, Australia's chances of winning the Tri Nations will be dashed.
"We had a chance to get a real stranglehold on that and go into the last game just requiring a win but we've left the door open," said Rennie. "Obviously a big game between Argentina and New Zealand next week."
Join us next Saturday for live updates of the All Blacks v Argentina Tri Nations test
