Wales 27 Argentina 20:With the wolves at his throat and Welsh supporters voting with their feet, Gareth Jenkins might have hoped for something more convincing. A last-gasp victory in a half-empty stadium and one dependent on repeated video replays will not stay the detractors long, but the calmest diagnosis of the coach's predicament after this display came from a doctor with 52 Argentina Test caps. "If I was a Welshman I'd sleep in peace," said Felipe Contepomi, once of Bristol, now of Leinster. "Wales will take a lot out of this game and hopefully people will stop giving out to the team and the coach."
Contepomi missed the last minute on Saturday after a bang on the head but an hour later was thinking clearly: "In my country it's football, here it is rugby. They criticise the coach, the players . . . the expectation is so high. Anything less than winning the World Cup is not enough."
Contepomi concedes that may be beyond Wales but he believes Jenkins's side, like Argentina, have the ability to cause a few shocks in France next month and possibly reach the semi-finals.
"They will get better and better," said Contepomi. "There is so much raw talent here and you have a really good coach. Today they showed they could play against a tough pack and we know how quick, how dangerous are the Welsh backs."
The Argentinian's assessment will come as a welcome relief to Jenkins, who admitted he had been stung by the vindictive and personal nature of the criticism he has received since Wales's record defeat by England a fortnight ago. On Saturday, at a press conference monitored by the Welsh Rugby Union's chief executive, Roger Lewis, the coach kept his feelings in check, possibly because Wales will have to improve still further in their final warm-up match, against France on Sunday.
Jenkins would have been happier had Saturday's match ended at half-time, when Wales were 24-7 ahead after pouncing on sloppy defence to score three tries. James Hook dummied and zipped through the gap between backs and backrowers to set up his captain Gareth Thomas; the 6ft 5in Alun-Wyn Jones was too strong to be denied by feeble tackling on the line; and Mark Jones was the ultimate beneficiary of a shocking pass from Agustin Pichot that turned promising attack into an embarrassing race for the hacked-on ball.
The front row was enjoying parity (if not better) in the scrums, Tom Shanklin was giving Argentina a collective nervous breakdown, and even the Wales lineout was having its moments until Marcelo Loffreda used the break to remind his players what Argentinian rugby was all about - "character," Contepomi called it.
The mistakes of the first half dried up. Ignacio Corleto scored a second try - his first was in the fourth minute, when he intercepted a flabby pass from Gareth Thomas - after a delicate offload by Lucas Borges and with 30 seconds left on the clock, Wales's hooker Matthew Rees was off to the sinbin. Only seven points down, Argentina seemed destined to crown six minutes camped on the Wales line.
Loffreda claimed serial Welsh indiscretions were worth a penalty try and had some harsh words about the refereeing of Chris White. But when Martin Durand spun over from five yards, Argentina seemed to be only a conversion away from drawing level, until the replay showed Duncan Jones had shaken the ball free.
It was not entirely convincing, but as Martyn Williams said later, it was against the side now ranked fifth in the world: "In Wales we tend to let a couple of losses get on top of us, but now we'll probably be seen as potential World Cup winners."
WALES: K Morgan; D James, Shanklin, G Thomas (capt), M Jones; Hook, Peel; D Jones, Rees, A Jones; Gough, A-W Jones; J Thomas, M Williams, Popham. Replacements: G Jenkins for D Jones (58 mins); W James for A-W Jones (60 mins); C Charvis for M Williams (67 mins); Robinson for M Jones (75 mins); D Jones for A Jones (76 mins). Sinbinned: Rees (79 mins).
ARGENTINA: Serra Miras; Borges, Gaitan, F Contepomi, Corleto; Todeschini, Pichot; Roncero, Ledesma, Scelzo; I Fernandez Lobbe, Albacete; J-M Leguizamon, J-M Fernandez Lobbe, Longo. Replacements: Alvarez for I Fernandez Lobbe, Durand for J-M Fernandez Lobbe, Bonorino for Scelzo (all 60 mins), M Contepomi for F Contepomi (79 mins). Sinbinned: Borges (28 mins).
Referee: C White (England).
