Reigning Guinness Six Nations champions Wales produced a late fightback to draw 20-20 with Argentina in the second match of their summer internationals.
The Welsh struggled against a resilient Argentina side who were in control for a decent portion of the match despite being a man down.
They still nearly stole a win at Principality Stadium, only for Jarrod Evans to miss a long-range, last-gasp penalty.
The hosts were without Leigh Halfpenny, who suffered a bad knee injury during the win against Canada last week, with Cardiff Blues’ Hallam Amos coming into the side.
It was a slow start for Wales, with the game scoreless for the first 15 minutes, the scoreboard only ticking when Nicolas Sanchez converted a penalty for Los Pumas.
Straight from the kick-off, the visitors were pulled up for an offside and Callum Sheedy got Wales off the mark.
He kicked another to give them the lead, while No.8 Aaron Wainwright was take off for a head injury assessment.
PUMAS KICK ON
Issues at the scrum persisted throughout the first half, with the referee eventually losing patience and sending both Dillon Lewis and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro to the sin bin.
Before both were back on the pitch Wales gained a man advantage as Argentine full-back Juan Cruz Mallia saw red for a dangerous tackle on Kieran Hardy.
This didn’t do anything for the game’s momentum however, with both sides struggling to put fluid attacks together but another penalty from Sanchez brought the scores level.
A flat first half from the hosts was punished just before the break. Pablo Matera drove past Sheedy and edged over the line to give Argentina a 13-6 half-time lead.
And things got worse for Wales early in the second half when they were turned over at the breakdown, Santiago Chocobares broke through and produced a perfect offload for Jeronimo de la Fuente to score, with the conversion added.
WALES FIGHT BACK
At 20-6 behind, Wales stepped things up a gear and lock Will Rowlands almost immediately went over in response to lift spirits around Principality Stadium.
That brought Wayne Pivac’s side back to within a converted try of Los Pumas and they duly piled on pressure, which finally told when Tomos Williams broke through to score a converted try, converted by Evans to level things at 20-20.
With the man disadvantage starting to catch up with Argentina, Wales dominated territory and the Guinness Six Nations holders could have sent the Cardiff crowd home happy for a second straight week, when Chocobares was judged offside late on.
However, Evans couldn’t quite bisect the posts with his penalty, from a fair distance out, and the sides shared the spoils ahead of another Test match next week
WHAT THEY SAID
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac: “We have to be more disciplined, look after the ball better than we did. We weren’t clinical enough in attack.
“It was a step up from last week. Both teams were unhappy with a draw, so we’ll both want to improve next week.
“We need to work on discipline and making sure we don’t gift away any soft ones.
“Some of the boys have taken to international rugby like a duck to water. That’s going to give us depth.”
Wales full-back and man of the match Hallam Amos said: “It was frustrating. We weren’t as clinical as we needed to be to win the game.
“They’re a really good side so it’s always going to be challenging. We know more about them now so hopefully we can improve next week.”
