Jump to main content
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon

Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon

Argentina captain Juan Manuel Leguizamon believes the clinical nature of Wales’ first-half performance left his side with a mountain to climb at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Share this page:

The Pumas began brightly in Cardiff but it was Wales who raced into a 20-point lead as they took their chances courtesy of tries from Mike Phillips and George North and a brace of conversions and penalties from Leigh Halfpenny.

Warren Gatland’s men crossed the whitewash twice more in the second period through man of the match Toby Faletau and replacement hooker Ken Owens as they recorded a record score against the Argentineans.

Leguizamon admits that Wales were worthy victors but he was left to rue his side’s failure to make the most of their early possession.

“Wales played an awesome match, they played very well. They found our weaknesses and they exploited them,” said Leguizamon, who was a key man when the South Americans won 26-12 here a year ago.

“At the beginning of the match we were strong in defence, we put pressure on Wales and made good moves but we couldn’t complete them. When you do that, you will pay an expensive price. It’s then hard to come back.

“When you are in their 22, attacking, attacking, attacking, and then suddenly you lose the ball and you find yourselves 50 metres back, it’s very hard. I think that’s what happened.

“It’s very frustrating losing by 40 points, that’s very hard for us to take. We had a great week of training in Wales and we tried to play. We produced some good rugby but it wasn’t enough.”

Leguizamonhas no doubt that the Wales team he faced today are a better outfit than the one his side saw off at the same venue in last season’s opening Dove Men Series encounter.

The former London Irish and now Lyon back rower, who was captaining his side in the absence of Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, was impressed with the challenge Wales posed up front and the direct test he faced in the back row against Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Toby Faletau.

“Wales are a team playing with a lot of confidence. They are playing better than last November, definitely,” added Leguizamon.

“They have a great back row. The three of them that played today played very well together. They played with two sevens but they can do that well and we saw that today.

“It was tough up front. We know how Wales play and how physical they are. We knew how hard it was going to be and it was just like that.

“They played very physical rugby, but I don’t think they were that much stronger than us. In the first half we were defending very well and they were going from side to side and they couldn’t find the holes. But when they got points on the board, that makes things a lot harder in your head and they got a lot of confidence from that and we lost confidence.”

Partners and Suppliers

Principal Partners
Principality
Admiral
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Vodafone
Go.Compare
Official Broadcast Partners
S4C
BBC Cymru/Wales
Official Partners
Guinness
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Heineken
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Official Suppliers
Gilbert
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Rhino Rugby
Sportseen
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Princes Gate
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Amber
Opro
Total Energies
Seat Unique
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon
Castell Howell
Glamorgan Brewing
Ted Hopkins
Hawes & Curtis
Wales were so clinical says Leguizamon