IN THE SHADE
Depleted Welsh side outshone in series decider by Los Pumas:
WALES ended their season on a sour note, being thrashed by Argentina at a sunkissed Principality
Stadium.
Wayne Pivac fielded a relatively unfamiliar side while their opponents were close to full strength, but that cannot be used to paper over the dismal level of performance.
Los Pumas fly-half Nicolas Sanchez let Wales off the hook with a surprising missed penalty early doors and Wayne Pivac’s side would take advantage of his generosity.
Inside the Argentina 22, Ross Moriarty fumbled the ball allowing Sanchez to clear but it was soon coming back through Hallam Amos.
When it was recycled, Jarrod Evans straightened beautifully to attract defenders and Nick Tompkins did the same before Jonathan Davies released Owen Lane up the far touchline.
He powered past the scrambled Argentina defence to finish superbly in the far corner, giving Wales an early 5-0. Unfortunately, that was the last thing home fans had to cheer in the first 40.
The restart was fumbled, allowing Los Pumas to set up camp in the Welsh 22. Bautista Delguy ran a lovely inside line off Sanchez to punch the first hole and the big Argentina pack then rumbled around the corner. They powered close to the line before winger Matias Moroni sniped over. Sanchez’s conversion gave his side the lead.
Wales were error-strewn throughout the opening half and it often gave Los Pumas easy field position from which to launch their attacks.
In the 25th minute, Manuel Tetaz Chaparro drove opposite prop Leon Brown out of a scrum and Sanchez extended the lead to 10 points.
Two minutes later, things went from bad to worse for Pivac’s side. Moroni got to a loose ball before Lane and hacked it deep into the Welsh 22. Welsh fly-half Evans got back to cover but then got caught in three minds before stepping back into Moroni and losing the ball. Argentina actually scored from the error but referee Luke Pearce was too quick with the whistle.
The ball actually came off Moroni’s head, so Argentina were awarded a scrum in the shadow of the Welsh posts. From there, they powered around the corner to the near side, through passive Welsh tackles, before scrum-half Tomas Cubelli sniped over from close range. The conversion made it 17-5. Evans reduced the deficit to nine before the break, but after sliced kicks, sloppy decision-making, over-thrown lineouts and inexcusable handling, Wales were lucky to be coming second.
The second half started ominously and Argentina came close to scoring twice in the opening few minutes before Evans and Sanchez traded penalties.
Midway through the second half, Wales full-back Hallam Amos was sinbinned when he took out opposite number Santiago Carreras in the air.
Five minutes later, Taine Basham – fresh off the bench – tackled Carreras late after he’d cleared long. The penalty was awarded where the ball landed and Sanchez stretched out the lead.
Wales huffed and puffed but the number of handling errors ballooned to alarming levels in the final quarter and the Welsh scrum fell apart.
Sanchez knocked over another penalty that came courtesy of his pack and there was still time for Pablo Matera to rub salt in the wounds with a late try, diving over unopposed two minutes from time.