Argentina Batter Wales 35-21 in San Juan as Joaquín Oviedo Bags a Brace and the Tandy Revival Learns That Belief and Strapping Tape Don't Survive Contact With a Furious Puma Pack

Wales landed in San Juan on a wave of belief, two uncapped rookies, and roughly a hospital ward's worth of strapping tape — and Argentina, still smarting from letting Scotland hang 47 on them, decided the Welsh optimism made a lovely target. Final score 35-21 to the Pumas, and the lesson, as ever, is that hope is a beautiful thing right up until it meets an Argentine forward pack that treats every ruck like it insulted the family name.

Number eight Joaquín Oviedo was the executioner-in-chief, bagging two tries and generally carrying like a man who'd been personally told the ball owed him rent. Justo Piccardo, the eternal Marcos Kremer and full-back Santiago Carreras all piled on, while Tomás Albornoz calmly slotted ten points off the tee — the kind of controlled, remorseless afternoon that turns a "bounce-back game" into a statement. Estadio del Bicentenario got exactly the cathartic beatdown it came for.

And it started so well for Wales, too, which is the cruellest way for it to go. Skipper Dewi Lake barged over, Rhys Carre added another, and for a while the Tandy revival looked like it might actually pack its momentum into its suitcase and take it to South America. But building on a good start against Argentina in Argentina is like trying to keep a braai lit in a hurricane — noble, spirited, doomed.

Ben Warren grabbed a late one to make the scoreboard look more respectable than the contest, the classic garbage-time consolation that flatters the losers and annoys absolutely no one. Wales rallied in the final quarter with the stubbornness that's become their calling card this campaign, but by then the Pumas had the game in a headlock and were just waiting for the whistle to release it.

So the great Welsh question returns, right on schedule: can they back up the good days? They beat Fiji, they beat the Barbarians, and for two weeks Cardiff dared to dream — then San Juan arrived with a reality check written in Spanish and stamped by Oviedo's boot. It's not a collapse, it's a lesson. But Welsh rugby has had enough lessons to fill a library, and what it desperately wants now is a graduation.