Wales may have ended their autumn blues against Argentina but there are few signs their white-line fever has been cured. Liam Williams seems to be only one immune – a bundle of energy on his return on Saturday – and you have to wonder where Wales would be without him.
It was his try against the disappointing Pumas, shortly after half-time, that finally gave Wales belief a run of five straight defeats could be ended, that their ears might stop ringing following their awful performance against Australia the week before. It was also Williams who carried the fight to New Zealand over the summer – always a counterattacking threat and immaculate under the high ball.
“He is like a bag of spanners, isn’t he? He is a great player, a player who gives 100% every time he takes the field. It is great to play with him, hopefully he will keep playing well,” said his Scarlets team-mate Scott Williams, while Rob Howley was only too happy to describe him as having “the x factor” in a side so devoid of it elsewhere.
The problem for Wales was evident, in microcosm, in the 10 minutes before half-time. A restless crowd was stirred as Dan Biggar kept kicking to the corner, scenting Wales’ superiority in the collisions would translate into the first try. The driving maul was dreadful however and despite a series of scrums and a yellow card for the Pumas tighthead, Ramiro Herrera, they could not breach the line – while for both their tries, Gareth Davies sniped over for the second, the scorers had plenty of work to do when receiving the ball.
“We spoke all week about not being individual about what we are doing close to the line,” said the hooker, Ken Owens, who went off with a rib and hip injury in the second half. “There was a bit of white-line fever at times and we didn’t execute as well as we would have liked in that area. The top teams in the southern hemisphere convert those chances – just look at Australia last week – we still have to work on that part of our game.”
It was clear from the onset Wales would take on Argentina up front; add more fire and brimstone rather than fancy footwork in the backs with the returning Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones hugely influential. And while Wales could not pull away from Argentina and needed two late Leigh Halfpenny penalties to get over the line, it worked. Just.
This victory – Howley’s first against a southern hemisphere side in seven attempts – will not live long in the memory, although it may go some way to keeping Wales in the top eight of the world rankings when the World Cup draw is made in May; Argentina had after all just gone above their hosts.
“It’s about home wins. The world rankings will look after themselves. When you look at four to 10, they’re going to swing, it’s a cluster between four and nine but to win against a side above us in the rankings is obviously important but more important is to win at home,” said Howley, no doubt relieved after dropping Jamie Roberts, Dan Lydiate and Alex Cuthbert – all Lions. “I think it’s important that you celebrate wins, it’s against a good Argentina side. I can’t speak highly enough of the leadership group, they can be very proud. We prepared really well and the players put a shift in.”
Wales’s inability to put breathing space between themselves and Argentina was largely down to the skills of the half-backs Martin Landajo, who plunged over for the second try soon after Davies’s score, and Nicolas Sánchez, who kicked 10 points.
There were few glimpses of their vaunted running game that put 43 points on Ireland on their last visit to Cardiff in the World Cup quarter-finals, while the return of Juan Martín Hernández led to a number of high kicks, few of them successful, even if he was there to finish off Argentina’s first try.
“We have to take a step forward after this game and analyse and start thinking about a strategy for the next games,” said the coach, Daniel Hourcade, whose side face Scotland on Saturday and England a week later.
“That’s what you have to do against the teams of the northern hemisphere. Scotland are a solid team, a tough team with very good players and a very straight game plan, similar to Wales. We need to put our system into place.”
Wales Halfpenny; North, J Davies, S Williams, Liam Williams; Biggar, G Davies; Jenkins (capt; Smith, 63), Owens (Baldwin, 46), Francis, Charteris, Jones, Warburton, Tipuric, Moriarty
Tries Liam Williams, G Davies. Con Halfpenny. Pens Halfpenny 4.
Argentina Tuculet (De La Fuente, 37); Moroni, Orlando, Hernández (González Iglesias, 75), Cordero, Sánchez, Landajo (Cubelli, 64); Noguera Paz (García Botta, 50), Creevy (capt; Montoya, 66), Herrera (Pieretto, 71), Petti (Lezana, 59), Alemanno, Matera (Senatore, 63), Ortega Desio, Isa. Sin-bin Herrera, 39
Tries Hernandez, Landajo. Cons Sánchez 2. Pens Sánchez 2.
Referee Angus Gardner (Aus). Attendance 50,175
