Wales 27 Argentina 20
KEY POINTS:
Wales bounced back from an England thrashing at Twickenham to beat Argentina 27-20 in a World Cup warmup match.
On Argentina's last appearance in Cardiff they drew with the British and Irish Lions.
That was a warm-up fixture, for a Lions tour which went wrong, but this precursor to the World Cup three weeks hence threw up promising portents for both Wales and the Pumas.
It might have turned out a draw again had Martin Durand, the replacement Pumas flanker, held on to the ball as he plunged for the line in added time at the end.
Instead it was dislodged by a double tackle from James Hook and Duncan Jones and Wales posted a fourth win in 15 matches under their beleaguered coach, Gareth Jenkins.
The Welsh public stayed away, deeply unimpressed by various factors including that poor run, the timing of the fixture and the wallet-challenging prices for the four matches to be staged here in the World Cup.
More grim news looked to be on the way when Ignacio Corleto intercepted a pass by Gareth Thomas and ran 65 metres to score in the fourth minute, the fly-half, Federico Todeschini, converting.
It recalled a sucker punch by Todeschini at Twickenham which earned the Pumas a win against England.
But Wales levelled quickly.
From Ian Gough's line-out take, Hook burst between the flanker Juan Leguizamon and Todeschini and gave an outside pass for Gareth Thomas, his captain, to do the rest at the posts.
Much attention centred on Wales' set-piece.
Gough was an assured option at the front of the line-out and the scrum was fairly solid, never more so than in front of the Pumas' posts midway through the first half.
Wales went right with breaks by Mark Jones and Gareth Thomas until they were illegally held up at the ruck.
Dwayne Peel tapped the penalty and Alun Wyn Jones beat off Martin Scelzo to score.
That was Jones' first Test try to add to a 39th by Thomas and with two conversions by Hook they added up to a 14-7 lead; all very satisfactory against the nation ranked No 5 in the world to Wales' eighth.
It got better after 24 minutes when Mark Jones scored Wales' third try on the counter.
The Argentina full-back, Federico Serra Miras, fumbled a pass from Agustin Pichot.
A hack by Hook and one more with each boot by Shanklin took the chase to the Pumas' line, with Shanklin holding Corleto at bay.
The Welshman may have nudged the ball forward before Jones slid in but the television match official saw nothing amiss and Hook converted for 21-7.
The less than half-full Millennium Stadium was so quiet you could hear the referee's "crouch, touch, pause, engage" at most scrums.
There were jeers though when Argentina's wing Lucas Borges went to the sin-bin for flipping Kevin Morgan in mid-air and Hook, in the 30th minute, kicked a penalty against Leguizamon for hands in the ruck.
With rain in the air the stadium roof was closed, as it will be for next Sunday's final warm-up between Wales and France and all four World Cup fixtures.
When the ground was built in 1999 Max Boyce adapted his "Hymns and Arias" with the line "the roof slides back when Wales attack so God can watch them play".
The Almighty might have fancied a quick peep at Gareth Thomas and Shanklin closing the half with a rousing attack from their own 22.
Win or lose this is what the Welsh support enjoy and if it continues there will be fewer knives out for Jenkins, who had invited more opprobrium by describing some unnamed 1970s legends as "naOve and reactionary" in an Independent interview on Friday.
After a penalty by Todeschini to open the second half, Gough prompted a barge by Rodrigo Roncero and Hook restored the 17-point gap.
A weaving run by Borges then ended with Corleto scoring his second try, converted by Todeschini.
When the replacement Rimas Alvarez won a line-out and Alix Popham killed the drive, Todeschini brought the Pumas to within seven points.
The draw escaped them when the TV match official spotted Durand's fumble.
Gareth Thomas saw it all as pride restored after batterings by Australia and England.
"We back each other as a team and we back the coaching staff," he said.
"As for anybody else who throws mud at us - don't bother."
- INDEPENDENT
