Wales 20-20 Argentina: Wayne Pivac frustrated, but praises hosts' fightback

Wales boss Wayne Pivac was left frustrated after their 20-20 draw with 14-man Argentina, but also praised his side's fightback.

Pumas full-back Juan Cruz Mallia was red-carded after 29 minutes, but Wales failed to capitalise.

The two-Test series will be decided in Cardiff next Saturday.

Pivac said: "Hopefully we'll be better next week. We're disappointed with the opportunities we gave the Argentinians."

Argentina built up a 20-6 lead before the hosts fought back to draw level.

Pivac added: "We knew they'd be very direct and, previewing them, that was going to be the way they were coming with 15 or 14 players.

"The way they played the game didn't change. They have a kicking game that they use, they've got very powerful ball runners and they like to use them in certain channels.

"The errors just kept creeping into our game which was frustrating.

"To come back, though, from 20-6 and have a chance to win it at the end, we'll take that and it sets us up for next weekend, when we'll be trying to clinch a series.

"Neither changing room, for different reasons, will be celebrating that result. I don't know any side that has celebrated a draw.

"We have spoken about the fact that it is a series, it's two matches at the end of the season. We'll look forward to our last training week together and hopefully we can get the sort of performance we were looking for to finish the season off."

Pivac introduced half-backs Tomos Williams and Jarrod Evans early in the second half for Callum Sheedy, and Kieran Hardy and the Cardiff pair inspired Wales' revival.

Evans even had a chance to win the game in the final minute, but missed his penalty attempt with Pivac backing the decision to go for the kick.

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"We just went off script a few times and we fell behind on the scoreboard," added Pivac.

"We needed to change it up and I thought they both did reasonably well.

"Goal kickers know their range and if they're second guessing whether they have the range then they should go to the corner, build pressure and look to get a closer penalty or score.

"But, at that stage, Jarrod felt he could kick it from that distance. He had the opportunity to win the game and it was probably half a metre shy of doing that."

Pivac admitted Argentina were superior at the contact area.

"The breakdown area, we were too loose and at times we were too slow in getting to our ball carriers," added Pivac.

"It is an area of the game were we knew Argentina were strong at so we paid the price there a few times.

"It will be interesting to see how we go in that area next week, it clearly hampered us throughout the game."

Cardiff centre Willis Halaholo and Dragons number eight Aaron Wainwright limped off during the game, while captain Jonathan Davies was in pain after a heavy tackle in the second half.

"We will wait and see over the 24 hours," said Pivac.

"There wasn't just two of them, most of the players were banged up in some way, it's what you can expect from a bruising Test match."

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