Argentina 50 Wales 44

AN AMAZING fightback by Wales wasn't quite enough to secure victory in their opening summer tour Test against Argentina at Tucuman.

Seven minutes into the second period Mike Ruddock's men were 38-9 adrift, but battled back and almost sneaked what would have been one of the most remarkable results in the history of Test rugby.

Ruddock said: "The try we conceded before half-time made it tough for us. In the second half Argentina played very well and we continued to leak soft tries.

"But we showed a lot of character and skill to come back at the end. We could possibly have snatched the result at the end, but we dropped the ball when we were clear.

"We need to look at the video, but discipline was an area we focused on at half-time. We gave away three or four penalties in the first half.

"Ceri Sweeney put in a high tackle, Colin went in the bin and Dwayne Peel was penalised for being within ten metres of a player who had called a mark.

"That meant we had suddenly allowed Argentina to take the momentum, and when we ended up with 14 players because Colin was off, they scored their first try.

"It's certainly a game we could have won if we had played for another ten minutes, but the Pumas took their chances.

"After 15 minutes, I remember writing down - nervous. We had one good drive off a maul and should have kept the momentum going, but we passed the ball back 20 metres and Ceri kicked straight into the hands of one of Argentina's centres.

"It was just a very nervy start, but then we started to build a good period, but without scoring. When Argentina put similar pressure on us, they scored."

Ruddock admitted his side had been intimidated by the reputation of the Tucuman venue.

But apart from centre Gavin Henson having to unravel himself from a flying toilet roll while lining up his first - and successful - shot at goal, there was little sign of local hostility.

"It was intimidating and we were nervous at the start," said Ruddock.

"But it's not because of the venue that we lost - it's because we missed too many tackles.

"The positives for us are that our scrum more than held up and our line-out was also excellent.

"We scored some great tries, and for the second Test we have to work on our discipline and defence. Thirdly, we have to play for the full 80 minutes."

Charvis said: "We pride ourselves on our defence, but we made too many mistakes in that area. To concede 50 points at this level was inexcusable.

"My own indiscipline got me sin-binned and, as Mike said, other players had similar problems. But I think we showed courage and character. In the past, some Welsh sides would have given up, but the spirit and courage in the squad meant we carried on until the last minute because we knew if we played our style of rugby we could score tries and do well."