Argentina provide reality check for Wales

So that was the reality check most were expecting for Wales.

After back-to-back Test wins against Italy and Fiji, facing Argentina away in San Juan seemed maybe a step too far.

That is how it worked out as the Pumas scored five tries and were more than good value for their 35-21 victory.

Scotland's win in Argentina had given Steve Tandy's side some hope of an upset but this was a different Pumas outfit.

Wales showed no shortage of spirit to stay in the game and give themselves a chance of a pair of bonus points, with this result an improvement on the 52-28 hammering dished out by the Pumas in November 2025 in Cardiff.

But Wales fell short as they were outclassed and outpowered by their hosts, who demonstrated why they are ranked in the top seven in the world with Tandy's side still 11th.

"They're a good team and they've had more time together off the back of the Scotland game as well," said Tandy.

"We felt in a good place coming here and it's disappointing the way the game finished for us."

Argentina now face a double-header with England as the two nations meet in rugby and football within three days of each other with a World Cup semi-final looming next Wednesday.

Argentina had too much pace, power and guile for Wales, whose defence was again desperate but sometimes lacking in first-up tackling.

"There's a lot of lessons in there for us," said Tandy.

"Coming away from home we need to be a bit more accurate and Argentina probably dominated the physicality.

"It's something we definitely need to look at. We fell off a few tackles in the first half and that creates momentum which is hard to wrestle back.”

A quick look at the match stats again demonstrate how dominant Wales' opponents were

Argentina made 458 metres in attack, with 15 clean breaks and 31 defenders beaten compared to Wales managing just 209 metres, three clean breaks and 15 defenders beaten.

Wales’ attack is more methodical with their three tries scored by front-row forwards Dewi Lake, Ben Warren and Rhys Carre - who scored for the fifth time in six internationals with a well-worked try.

Getting over the gain line was a major issue for Wales in San Juan and the offensive game against the Pumas was more pedestrian than their opponents.

The jury is still out on the Wales midfield with Scarlets trio Sam Costelow, Joe Hawkins and Eddie James chosen this weekend.

Wales' main threat comes from the driving line-out and it was only in the final quarter that the attack threatened to demonstrate any fluidity.

Wales flanker Jac Morgan was again the pick of the bunch in San Juan with 23 tackles, impressive turnover and one second-half burst highlighting his all-round influence.

Exeter back-rower Kane James was prominent as a second-half replacement winning his first cap.

Crossing five time zones in a flight of more than 5,000 miles just adds to the travel theme of this tournament.

There is also the challenge of facing the double world champions with Wales still having memories of a 73-0 record defeat inflicted by the Springboks in Cardiff in November.

While Argentina was always going to be a tough task, South Africa will be even harder.

The Springboks have already beaten England and Scotland in this tournament with heavily rotated sides, and Wales players will finish their long season with a truncated week in South Africa.

Tandy says there will be no excuses.

"It's brilliant for us and I talk a lot about us, where we're going from our first campaign to our third," said Tandy.

"We had a great result last week and now there is this disappointment against Argentina.

"Going to the world champions we know they could probably put two or three teams up that are really impressive.

"So we will be up against it but these are the challenges we want.”