After a resounding 42-3 win over Samoa in Round One, the young Welshmen beat Scotland 26-21 in a close-run Round Two encounter and the message from the management is that the side must up their game if they are to reach the semi-finals for the second consecutive year.
Argentina have so far beaten Scotland 44-13 and Samoa 28-16 so Thursday’s game amounts to a quarter-final scenario for both sides. And with those performances, plus a two Test Series victory over South Africa before the start of the tournament, Argentina are likely to pose the biggest threat yet.
Head coach Wilson said: “We didn’t quite meet the high standards we have set ourselves against Scotland. Having said that, I believe we have a lot more in the tank to put into Thursday’s crunch game against Argentina.
“Our discipline let us down against Scotland and that is something Argentina will punish us for if we don’t put it right on Thursday. They are a powerful, aggressive side with a very clinical kicker at 10 who will take every opportunity to put points on the board.
“We won the Samoa game with a good attacking game, we beat Scotland thanks to our defensive effort in the end but we will have to be effective on both accounts in order to beat Argentina.”
Defence coach Richard Hodges said: “We conceded a soft try against Scotland, something we haven’t done for a very long time. Having said that, we showed once again that we can tough it out defensively to hold on and win games in the final minutes of a game which is pleasing and I’m confident we can work on some key areas ahead of Thursday.”
Byron Hayward, attack coach added: “We showed glimpses of some excellent attacking play, with the two tries in particular, but we also allowed a number of chances to pass us by against Scotland.
“We know we are capable of producing good attacking rugby, we just need to get ourselves into those scoring positions and improve our execution of them.”
