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Wales will target the breakdown and their ball-carrying as critical areas for improvement when they chase a Test series victory over Argentina next Saturday.
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The Guinness Six Nations champions were left frustrated by those key performance elements after drawing 20-20 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 that toppled New Zealand in November – it was a reasonable result.
But head coach Wayne Pivac identified below-par aspects, while there were also injuries suffered by number eight Aaron Wainwright and centre Willis Halaholo that forced them off and will require assessment.
It went down to the wire in Cardiff. #WALvsARG pic.twitter.com/EA45KV1xet
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 10, 2021
“In the breakdown area we were too loose, and at times we were too slow in getting to our ball-carriers,” Wales boss Pivac said.
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“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.
'I genuinely believe this is something that is going to help change the game'
After Paul Gustard left, a new technology radically altered how @Harlequins trained. @heagneyl 👨💻 talks to @RichardLanc of @PROTECHTPro https://t.co/R2k48UfIJB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 11, 2021
“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.
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“We just have to make sure we build on the good, and eradicate some of the things that were costly.
“Neither changing room, for different reasons, would have been celebrating that result. I don’t know any side that has celebrated a draw.”
Hallam Amos, who made just his seventh start at full-back in a 24-cap Wales career, was one of the shining lights after replacing an injured Leigh Halfpenny.
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 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’ failure to capitalise after Argentina went down a player, he added: “After the red card the game becomes a little bit scrappy.
“Especially Argentina, because they play on such emotion, that it almost works in their favour a little bit. We just spoke about keeping calm, not changing our game-plan, 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 moving forward, boys will be in a far better position to go on and win games like that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Well where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to comments