Wales 11-33 Argentina: Clinical Pumas outclass Wales in Cardiff

Wales wing Owen Lane scored the game's opening try before Argentina took control

Argentina completed a series victory over a depleted Wales side with a convincing victory in Cardiff.

Following last weekend's 20-20 draw, the Pumas took advantage of a sloppy Wales display to win the second Test at the Principality Stadium.

Wales opened the scoring through Owen Lane but Argentina responded with tries from wing Matias Moroni, scrum-half Tomas Cubelli and flanker Pablo Matera.

Fly-half Nicolas Sanchez kicked 18 points to punish Wales indiscipline.

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Wales coach Wayne Pivac had said he was without 27 players for this final game of the season because of injuries and British and Irish Lions commitments in South Africa.

This defeat came against an almost full-strength Argentina side that beat New Zealand and drew twice with Australia in late 2020.

Pivac had stated this was a chance to develop players before the 2023 World Cup in France given the first team was unavailable and he would have learned some valuable lessons from the two Tests against Argentina.

In searing sunshine, the Pumas dominated the aerial battle, had scrummaging superiority, employed a simple-yet-effective powerful, ball-carrying game plan and simply made fewer errors than their opponents.

Wales made made seven changes from their first Test line-up, with Cardiff half-backs Tomos Williams and Jarrod Evans included after impressing off the bench last week.

Ospreys prop Gareth Thomas made his first start, while Cardiff flanker Josh Turnbull began his first Wales match in seven years.

Argentina made two changes, with centre Santiago Chocobares and wing Bautista Delguy starting as they reshuffled their backline following last week's red card for full-back Juan Cruz Mallia.

Sanchez missed an early penalty and picked up a head injury after the TMO ruled the Argentina fly-half had collided with the leg of Nick Tompkins, rather than an attempted Lane tackle.

Cardiff wing Lane then finished expertly for the opening try before Argentina responded with a powerful burst from wing Moroni, which Sanchez converted.

Scarlets wing Tom Rogers had been given his second cap after replacing Jonah Holmes but he endured a difficult opening quarter with a series of mistakes, while full-back Hallam Amos also spilled possession on a couple of occasions.

Wales were hampered by unforced errors and indiscipline as they continually gave Argentina attractive opportunities.

The hosts' generosity almost laid the platform for an early Cubelli try, but the scrum-half knocked on with the try line begging under pressure from a Jonathan Davies tackle.

Sanchez extended the lead with a penalty, before a potential Pumas try was disallowed by the early whistle of English referee Luke Pearce.

That merely delayed events, with Cubelli finally securing his try, which Sanchez converted.

Wales responded with an Evans penalty but Argentina held a deserved nine-point lead at the interval.

Pablo Matera's late try underlined Argentina's dominance

Wales' unforced mistakes, dominated by a host of inexplicable handling errors, continued in the second half before they rang the changes in the forwards, which included a first cap for lock Matthew Screech.

Evans brought Wales to within a score with his second penalty before Rogers was replaced, with Tompkins switching to the wing and Willis Halaholo coming in at centre.

Sanchez restored the two-score advantage with another penalty, before Amos was yellow carded for taking out his opposite number Santiago Carreras in the air.

Referee Pearce decided it was not worthy of a red card though, as scrum-half Cubelli had contributed to Amos' charge by colliding with the Welsh full-back.

Further Welsh indiscipline saw Taine Basham's late tackle on Carreras penalised by three more Sanchez points.

A further long-range Sanchez effort hit the post before the fly-half added another successful effort. Flanker Matera was rewarded with a dynamic display as he surged over as he combined with man-of-the-match Rodrigo Bruni in a dominant Argentina back-row.

Sanchez's conversion completed the scoring.

Line-ups

Wales: Hallam Amos; Owen Lane, Nick Tompkins, Jonathan Davies (capt), Tom Rogers; Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Leon Brown, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands, Josh Turnbull, James Botham, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Sam Parry, Rhodri Jones, Dillon Lewis, Matthew Screech, Taine Basham, Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy, Willis Halaholo.

Argentina: Santiago Carreras; Bautista Delguy, Santiago Chocobares, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Matias Moroni; Nicolas Sanchez, Tomas Cubelli; Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Julian Montoya (capt), Francisco Gomez Kodela, Guido Petti, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Facundo Isa, Rodrigo Bruni.

Replacements: Facundo Bosch, Facundo Gigena, Santiago Medrano, Tomas Lavanini, Matias Alemanno, Felipe Ezcurra, Domingo Miotti, Juan Imhoff.

Match officials

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU).

Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley, Karl Dickson (RFU).

TMO: Tom Foley (RFU).

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