Wales were held tryless and convincingly outplayed by a hungry Pumas side, losing 26-12 in a dull encounter at the Millenium Stadium. The game was marred by three first half injures, first knee ligament damage to Felipe Contepomi, then a head knock to Jamie Roberts, and finally what appeared to be a wrist problem for Alun Wyn Jones. It was a sad end in particular for Contepomi, whose storied international career now comes to a close two weeks earlier than expected.
Rob Howley’s decision to back badly out of form Rhys Priestland at flyhalf was a gamble that failed. While he had some decent clearance kicks, he never threatened the line and failed to take control of the game when the opportunity was there early on. His facial expressions later on told the story, his confidence is shot. Scarlets halfback partner Tavis Knoyle didn’t contribute much either aside from the odd tackle. There was no sense of urgency and it was no surprise that Wales looked more threatening when Mike Phillips finally came on nearly three quarters in.
There were few positives for Wales, who were ahead 12-6 after fifty minutes of play. Aaron Jarvis will take heart from a promising debut, and Leigh Halfpenny looked steady enough and kicked well. Scott Williams and Toby Faletau tried hard, but couldn’t muster much support. Captain Sam Warburton was invisible for much of the match, and the same could be said of Scarlets forwards Josh Turnbull and Rob McCusker. Wingers George North and Alex Cuthbert were totally shut down by the Puma defense, and James Hook had virtually no impact upon his arrival in place of Roberts.
Most worringly for Wales is that Argentina were neither at full strength nor playing particularly well either. They simply showed more desire to win and aside from a couple missed kicks at goal took their chances well. In stark contrast to Warburton, Puma captain Juan Fernandez Lobbe led from the front and was rewarded with man-of-the-match honours. Nicolas Sanchez played reasonably well and kept the scoreboard ticking over with two timely drop goals. Gonzalo Tiesi looked tentative early but grew in confidence as the game went on. Wingers Gonzalo Camacho and Juan Imhoff completely outplayed their opposite numbers and each worked hard for their scores.
The Welsh scrum was a question mark heading into the match but Jarvis held his own and even beat Marcos Ayerza once early on. When Paul James replaced him there were immediate problems, and when Ryan Bevington came on a little later for Gethin Jenkins the scrum was completely obliterated.
Wales are now in big trouble against a Samoan side that was outstanding against Canada, and with New Zealand and Australia lining up behind it could be a very dark month indeed for the Six Nations champions. Argentina, on the other hand, should compete well with France and have every chance of taking another home nations scalp in Dublin the following Saturday.
SCORING
03 mins – Felipe Contepomi pen 0-3
06 mins – Leigh Halfpenny pen 3-3
09 mins – Nicolas Sanchez dg 3-6
14 mins – Leigh Halfpenny pen 6-6
26 mins – Leigh Halfpenny pen 9-6
47 mins – Leigh Halfpenny pen 12-6
51 mins – Nicolas Sanchez dg 12-9
54 mins – Juan Imhoff try 12-14
55 mins – Nicolas Sanchez con 12-16
59 mins – Gonzalo Camacho try 12-21
60 mins – Nicolas Sanchez con 12-23
71 mins – Nicolas Sanchez pen 12-26
WALES
Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Scott Williams, Jamie Roberts (James Hook 24), George North; Rhys Priestland, Tavis Knoyle (Mike Phillips 56); Gethin Jenkins (Ryan Bevington 68), Matthew Rees (Richard Hibbard 60), Aaron Jarvis (Paul James 60); Alun Wyn Jones (Rob McCusker 39), Ian Evans; Josh Turnbull, Sam Warburton (capt.) (Justin Tipuric 71), Toby Faletau.
ARGENTINA
Juan Martin Hernandez (Horacio Agulla 45); Gonzalo Camacho, Gonzalo Tiesi, Felipe Contepomi (Joaquin Tuculet 13), Juan Imhoff; Nicolas Sanchez, Martin Landajo (Nicolas Vergallo 66); Marcos Ayerza (Bruno Postiglioni 78), Eusebio Guinazu (Agustin Creevy 48), Juan Figallo (Juan Gomez 66); Manuel Carizza, Julio Farias Cabello (Tomas Vallejos 64); Juan Fernandez Lobbe (capt.), Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Leonardo Senatore (Tomas Leonardi 56).
