Wales pummel Pumas but disappearing centres a worry

Wales may have posted a record victory over Argentina and helped wash away the bitter taste of defeat by South Africa but this impressive demolition of the Pumas came at the end of the week of disappearing centres.

Jonathan Davies’s announcement last week he was leaving the Scarlets next season for Clermont Auvergne is more bad news for the domestic game in Wales. But Warren Gatland now has a more immediate concern of finding two new centres to face Tonga in Cardiff on Friday night.

Cory Allen, the 20-year-old debutant from Cardiff Blues who replaced the injured Davies here, finished the afternoon with a dislocated shoulder. His new centre partner Scott Williams, himself standing in for injured Jamie Roberts this autumn, is also doubtful for Friday after damaging a ligament in his toe.

Gatland will hope 21-year-old Williams will forge an instant rapport with Ashley Beck of the Ospreys, who played the last eight minutes on Saturday after the unlucky Allen left the field.

Australia in two weeks and not an Argentina side in decline are the acid test for Wales this month, so Gatland can hardly afford any more casualties this weekend.

The Pumas may have lost eight games in a row now but they are not exactly pussycats and there were some bruised and battered Welsh bodies here on Saturday night.

But Toby Faletau, Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric were outstanding in the back row, giving Pablo Matera, the young Argentina flanker of whom much is expected when he settles in at Leicester, an uncomfortable afternoon.

Gethin Jenkins, celebrating his 100th cap, and Richard Hibbard were unyielding in the battle with the famed Argentinian scrummagers.

The Welsh backrow helped give Wales a solid forward platform and what is left of Wales’s back line played with ambition. Orchestrating them was Dan Biggar, back after being left out of the squad against South Africa.

Gatland, though, was equivocal in his praise for the only Wales player who started the win over England eight months ago not to make his Lions squad. Rhys Priestland was dropped after the South Africa defeat and the outhalf position, as ever, continues to be a subject for debate. –
Guardian Service
WALES: Halfpenny; North, Allen, S Williams, L Williams; D Biggar, M Phillips; Jenkins, Hibbard, R Jones, Davies, A Jones, Warburton, Tipuric, Faletau. Replacements: Lee for Jenkins (68), Owens for Hibbard (63), James for R Jones (68), R Jones for Faletau (74), L Williams for Phillips (68), Hook for Biggar (68), Beck for Allen (72). Sin Bin: Tipuric (12), Lee (80)
ARGENTINA: Tuculet; Agulla, Bosch, Fernandez, Cordero; Sanchez, Landajo; Ayerza; Guinazu, Bustos, Carizza, Albacete; Matera, Cabello; Leguizamon. Replacements: Lobo for Ayerza (72), Iglesias Valdez for Guinazu (67), Diaz for Bustos (73), Lavanini for Carizza (67), Senatore for Matera (56), Cubelli for Landajo (68), Ascarate for Fernandez (59), G Amorosino for Tuculet (42).
Referee: J Lacey (Ireland).