Wales coaches left fuming by shock Millennium Stadium defeat to Argentina

Last updated: 11th November 2012   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wales coaches left fuming by shock Millennium Stadium defeat to Argentina

Coach Rob Howley: Wales are 'much better than that'

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Wales coaches Rob Howley and Shaun Edwards admitted they were hugely disappointed with Wales' 26-12 defeat to Argentina.

The Six Nations champions had led 9-6 at half-time, a lead extended to 12-6 after the break, but that was as good as it got for Wales.

The boot of Nicolas Sanchez and converted tries for wings Juan Imhoff and Gonzalo Camacho saw the visitors secure their second win over Wales in Cardiff, 11 years to the day after their first.

And there looks set to be further bad news for Howley with Lions duo Jamie Roberts and Alun Wyn Jones picking up injuries that put their involvement in the rest of the autumn internationals, with New Zealand, Australia and South Africa to come - in doubt.

Howley said: "I am disappointed, frustrated and annoyed because we know we are a better side than that.

"We talked about it being an arm wrestle for 50 minutes and we were 12-6 ahead but we looked one- paced.

"When you play Argentina, tempo, pace and intensity are important but there is no doubt their experience and exposure to the Rugby Championship has taken that Argentina side to another level.

"They played the All Blacks, South Africa and Australia over a six-week period and they have certainly learned from that and we were exposed to it today and we very much came second."

"Jamie has a bump on the head, it's a mild concussion to say the least. Alun Wyn has done his AC (joint) so we will have to wait on the medical opinion for that but it does not look good at this time and it will test our strength in depth and these next three games are very important."

Assistant coach Edwards pulled no punches, admitting that Wales missed the injured trio of Jonathan Davies, prop Adam Jones and flanker Dan Lydiate.

He said: "I definitely thought the impact from the Argentina bench was better than ours. We went into the game with certain personnel missing and it showed quite dramatically in the last half hour.

"Both starting centres from the Grand Slam were missing, we had our number six and number three missing and it showed, and we have to get the other players up to pace as quickly as possible.

"But it was obvious there is a disparity at the moment between our first-choice XV and the players who have got those positions now."

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