Let’s keep our proud record intact, says full-back Amos
Hallam Amos spins the ball out against Argentina.
Picture: Huw Evans Agency
HALLAM Amos is in no mood to see Wales lose an unbeaten sequence against Argentina that dates back nine years.
Amos, who made just his seventh start at full-back in a 24-cap Wales career, was one of the shining lights as Wayne Pivac’s men battled to a 20-20 draw with the Pumas at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
And he has already set his sights on Wales preserving an unbeaten record against Argentina next weekend that stretches back across five Tests to 2012.
Amos, named in the side after Leigh Halfpenny was ruled out with a knee injury, said: “It’s a great opportunity for us. They are a fantastic side and we know now what they are going to bring.
“We had not played them since 2018, so sometimes it’s hard to see what a team is going to bring, but now we know and they will know what we bring.”
And reflecting on Wales’s failure to capitalise after Argentina went down to 14 men, he added: “After the red card the game becomes a little bit scrappy.
“Argentina play on such emotion that it almost works in their favour a little bit.
“We just spoke about keeping calm, not changing our gameplan, but I think it took a little bit of time to adapt to that. That comes with the inexperience we had in the side.
“But we will have learnt lessons from that, and the boys will be in a far better position to go on and win games like that.”
Wales will target the breakdown and their ball-carrying as critical areas for improvement when they chase a Test series victory over Argentina.
The Guinness Six Nations champions were left frustrated by those key elements after drawing with the Pumas in Cardiff.
Argentina saw full-back Juan Cruz Mallia sent off following a dangerous head-high challenge on Wales scrum-half Kieran Hardy with more than 50 minutes remaining, but the home side could not capitalise on their numerical advantage.
They trailed by 14 points until almost midway through the second half, before tries from lock Will Rowlands and scrum-half substitute Tomos Williams – both converted by Jarrod Evans – salvaged a share of the spoils.
Given that Wales were without 10 players on British and Irish Lions duty in South Africa – and Argentina started with nine of the team who toppled New Zealand in November – it was a reasonable result.
But head coach Pivac (circled, above) identified below-par aspects.
“In the breakdown area we were too loose, and at times we were too slow in getting to our ball-carriers,” he said.
“The breakdown is an area of the game where we knew Argentina were strong, and 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.
“We were our own worst enemies. We will go away, look at that and make sure we are a lot better in our ball-carrying.
“We will tend to look at it from a negative point of view after a draw, because everyone wants to win it, but there will be some good stuff there and good effort.
“We just have to make sure we build on the good, and eradicate some of the things that were costly.”