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Welsh Rugby Union CEO Martyn Phillips has confirmed that Wales will play a two-game series against Argentina in June 2018, with matches set to take place on the first two weeks of the test window on June 9 and 16. He also revealed that the WRU are close to finalising a deal that will see Wales play in the USA on June 2, against an unnamed side.
With the match date falling outside the test window it makes a full test match possible but unlikely. One team that is definitely not on the table, according to Phillips, is the USA. It’s unlikely that the executive will be receiving any holiday cards from Americans after ruffling feathers with his comments.
“We are probably going to have an extra fixture on the summer tour next year in the US. We are pretty close to getting that done. It wouldn’t be against America. We would play another side, a proper side in the US, the week before Argentina, on June 2.”
A neutral-venue match on American soil would be a first for Wales but just the latest in a number of similar initiatives. The Aviva Premiership hosted its second ‘American Series’ match in Philadelphia earlier in the year while Ireland played New Zealand at Chicago’s Soldier Field in November 2016. A Super Rugby pre-season match between the Bulls and Stormers in Los Angeles is planned for February 3.
Meanwhile Wales returns to Argentina for the first time in more than a decade. They have previously undertaken three tours to South American, each with two matches against the Pumas. The first was in 1999 when Wales won both matches played in Buenos Aires. In 2004 the two sides split the series, and in 2006 Argentina were victorious in both matches.
