Wales v Argentina: Five takeaways from the Rugby World Cup quarter-final as Los Pumas’ aerial game the difference

Following a 29-17 victory for Argentina over Wales in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Marseille, here’s our five takeaways from the game.

The top line

An immense display of aerial and breakdown brilliance saw Los Pumas become the first team to make the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-finals as they disposed of an inaccurate and underpowered Wales.

Second-half tries from replacement prop Joel Scalvi and the evergreen Nicolas Sanchez, combined with the boot of the peerless Emiliano Boffelli, saw Argentina home, but it was the work of their pack, led by a brutal display of breakdown defence by Marcos Kremer, together with set-piece dominance and an advantage in the airways that enabled the South Americans to get over the line.

Wales only have themselves to blame; their handling was woeful at times, and they were absolutely dismantled in the lineout, especially in the first half where Ryan Elias struggled to find Marseille, let alone his jumpers, and as the mistakes crept in, so their confidence eroded.

It was a match full of incidents – Jaco Peyper’s calf gave up on him after 20 minutes, throwing his assistant referee Karl Dickson into the middle to deliver an assured and accurate performance.

Breakdown battle

Wales took a chance with two sevens and a six in the absence of the brilliant Taulupe Faletau, and although Aaron Wainwright put in a tremendous shift, easily the best Welsh player on the pitch, Jac Morgan and Tommy Reffell were absolutely smashed off the ball by the sheer power of the Pumas forwards. At times, both men tried manfully to slow and seize, but both Juan Martin Gonzalez and Kremer put in notable performances of power and rare intelligence.

Under the pressure that came, so penalties were sure to follow, and two before half-time allowed Argentina to go into the break only four points down, but knowing also that they were growing into the match and had that breakdown foothold.

To compound issues, Elias had a match close to the outing in 2020 in Llanelli against England, where he missed seven of his own throws. His technique, which almost has two dummy throws before release, has always been suspect under pressure, and on three occasions, he missed his jumpers fully by five metres as overthrows galore landed at the feet of the Argentine midfield.

Wales had one of those days where every little thing that could go wrong did go wrong, but a lot of that was down to the pressure exerted by the brilliant Argentine back-row.

A tale of two nines

Although they will leave the tournament tomorrow, Wales must thank their two brilliant scrum-halves for the moments of the match as both Gareth Davies and Tomos Williams played their part in magnificent tries for their country, the former setting one up and the latter scoring one.

Ironically, the Dan Biggar try, assisted by Davies, was from a set-piece move that Argentina used many times over the last three years in the Rugby Championship – fly-half passes and loops, holds the outside defender, then a pop pass in and out straight down the middle of the park for the nine running on at pace. It was brilliant execution of a pre-planned move by Biggar and his backline, and one hopes that this match is not the last we see of the incredible Welsh warrior at 10, a man who has been a credit to the jersey he values so much.

The Williams try was a result of a mix-up around the guarding of the scrum; loosehead Thomas Gallo ball watched to recycle himself back into midfield but instead bought a sublime dummy off Williams, who simply stepped into the gap where Gallo should have been to sprint under the posts.

Wales got drawn into an arm-wrestle in Marseille, and perhaps if they’d have played more head-up rugby like in the case of these two tries, things might have been very different.

🎯 Mr Reliable, Emiliano Boffelli. #WALvARG #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/25BS68G442

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) October 14, 2023

Aerial excellence

David Campese wrote in the week on Planet Rugby that both teams had brilliant back threes, and whoever of those won the aerial battle in this match would win the game. He also went on to say that Boffelli is a world-class player when the ball is above his head, and ‘The Boff’ put in an exquisite display of aerial dominance and defensive intellect to endorse Campese’s faith in him.

Boffelli claimed 11 kicks in the game, spilling none as he and Juan Cruz Mallia were absolutely unflinching under both the high ball and the Welsh chase tonight. And to add to his credentials, the Argentinean wing’s goal-kicking, save for one sighter in the first half, was absolutely flawless, including nailing one huge 56m effort just after halftime.

With Sanchez, Boffelli’s friend and long-time mentor, popping onto the pitch for a memorable breakaway try off a wayward Sam Costelow pass under pressure, Los Pumas’ footballing backs had the night of their lives in Marseille, and it was fitting that it was Boffelli who scored the conversion of his friend’s brilliant try.

Moving forward

Wales have come on leaps and bounds in this tournament under the simple back-to-basics approach of Warren Gatland. They have almost overachieved getting to a quarter-final, given where they were six months ago, but no one could argue that their win against Fiji was somewhat fortuitous, and they leave the tournament probably achieving around par or just better.

It’s ironic that it was their basics that so let them down tonight. Without any form of breakdown dominance or lineout ball, it’s hard to win any game of rugby, and despite the promising start, they were powered off the park by Los Pumas thereafter.

Los Pumas will face New Zealand in Paris next weekend, as they get to the semi-finals once again, the last time being in 2015, where they lost to Australia, at that time coached by their current boss, Michael Cheika, after beating Ireland in the quarters.

They move forward this year knowing that they have the raw power and aerial game to match that of anyone, but also that they must nail their discipline and start a lot hotter this time next week in Paris. It will be a massive test for Argentina, but they thrive on the underdog status. After all, who wouldn’t want a free hit at one of the world’s best, knowing a World Cup final awaits them if they succeed?

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