Wales ease past Argentina in Santa Fé

Wales eased past Argentina in Santa Fé, winning 30-12. In what may have been the final match under the coaching of Daniel Hourcade, Los Pumas were cleanly beaten, even more so than in the first test in San Juan.

In winning the the series 2-0, Wales Hourcade’s position is now unattainable. El Huevo can no longer be retained as the man to take Argentina to RWC 2019. Either he will resign or action from the UAR will be required to force him out. The question is whether to wait until after completing June or not.

Hourcade went into the series against Wales with the same players that had won six consecutive Super Rugby matches under Mario Ledesma. The organization and patience of Los Jaguares was no where to be seen in either San Juan or Santa Fé.

Early signs today in Santa Fé were ominous for Argentina. Wales dominated the early exchanges, comfortably maintaining possession and advancing upfield. With it the Argentine defense gave way, committing penalties.

The scoring opened 9 minutes in with fly half Rhys Patchell beginning his excellent match well. The Scarlets no 10 landed a simple penalty attempt from inside his 22.

Following the kick-off Argentina would look to the air. Two up-and-under kicks from Nicolás Sánchez were struck, the second of which was taken by Ramiro Moyano into Welsh territory. Yet with the forwards beaten to the breakdown Wales were able to regather and win possession.

Wales’ reading of play was, indeed, a feature of the match and the series. The same is true of scoring points. The visitors from west Britain would go 6-0 ahead in the 15th minute as Patchell landed his second goal.

The match could perhaps be best described by the following play from the South Americans. With Argentina awarded a penalty in the Welsh half they turned down a shot at goal. Either Sánchez or Emiliano Boffelli would have likely taken the kick for Los Jaguares.

As it turned out Sánchez kicked for the corner and missed. What was an inexcusable error was amazingly a repeat from San Juan when he missed two kicks to touch from penalties.

Argentina would recover the ball as Wales kicked it back. In the middle of the field Sánchez looked to link with Bautista Delguy only for a missed pass to see Delguy knock-on.

21 minutes in and Wales would be awarded a penalty. This time it was against the Pumas scrum for wheeling. Patchell’s strike sailed wide to the right. It mattered not as two minutes later saw Wales going 13-0 ahead, thanks to a superb try from Josh Adams who split the defense from a counterattack.

A second try was scored twelve minutes later, this time through Owen Watkin. The center’s score would not be given however after consulting with the TMO. Wales used the opportunity to add three more points as Patchell landed a penalty following advantage prior to the non-try.

With two minutes remaining Patchell struck again, this time for Los Pumas not releasing in a tackle. It meant that after 28 minutes Argentina had conceded 7 penalties compared to Wales’ record of two.

The scoreboard read 19-0 in the 40th minute. Argentina managed to open their account on the stoke of halftime. They did so through winger Bautista Delguy who scored his first test try. In his second cap the 21-year-old provided support to Guido Petti who broke the line to put away the speedster.

The second half began poorly for Los Pumas. In the 41st minute of the match Marcos Kremer was penalized for obstructing Ross Moriarty. It occurred after Sánchez had run back in a counter-attack only for the Welsh no 8 to be illegally blocked of making a tackle. Patchell punished the action taking Wales to a 22-5 lead.

Eleven minutes later saw Patchell taking his goal-kicking up to 7 from 8. His penalty confirmed which team was in total control of the game.

The Welsh would score once more, doing so in the 57th minute. Finishing off a brilliant team effort was Hallam Amos.  The fullback did so after good work from both Moriarty and George North. Patchell’s attempt missed to finish his day at 7 from 9.

With the minutes counting down Argentina was desperate to score points. Wales was relentless in defense but ultimately a try would come. It happened following the red carding of Welsh no 8 Ross Moriarty.

The former England U20’s Junior World Championship winner was sent off for putting Sánchez in a choke hold. The action was retaliation after Sánchez had shoved him on the floor. With assistant referee Andrew Brace having told Moriaty to let go and him not complying the judgement was a dangerous and intentional action.

The red card saw Argentina playing against 14-men for the final minutes. With time up replacement hooker Julián Montoya went over in the right corner, scoring his first test try since RWC 2015. Sánchez converted to end the scoring at 30-12.

Wales return home with a brilliant series win while Argentina travel ton Resistencia to face Scotland. A number of players are in doubt through injury.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA 12
Tries – B. Delguy, J. Montoya
Cons – N. Sánchez 1

WALES 30
Tries – J. Adams, H. Amos
Cons – R. Patchell
Pens – R. Patchell 6

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Emiliano Boffelli

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Javier Díaz, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere

WALES
1 Rob Evans, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Adam Beard, 5 Cory Hill (capt.), 6 Ellis Jenkins, 7 James Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 9 Aled Davies, 10 Rhys Patchell, 11 George North, 12 Owen Watkin, 13 Scott Williams, 14 Josh Adams, 15 Hallam Amos

Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Josh Turnbull, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Tom Prydie

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
Assistants: Mathieu Raynal (FFR) & Andrew Brace (IRFU)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)

 

Attendance: 26,000