TNT Sports
Pumas overcome Wales
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Published 12/06/2004 at 23:57 GMT+1
Argentina's Lucas Borges scored two tries at the beginning of the 2nd half to spark a five-try blitz in their 50-44 victory over Wales on Saturday. Flyhalf Felipe Contepomi added a third try just four minutes later for a personal tally of 25 points as Arg
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It was the Pumas highest ever score against Wales, beating the previous record of 30.
Wales, under new coach Mike Ruddock, were disjointed and error-prone though managed to score five second-half tries themselves to Dwayne Peel, Jason Forster, Colin Charvis, Sonny Parker and Hal Luscombe.
Centre Gavin Henson added three penalties and five conversions in the match that turned into farce in the last 10 minutes.
The Pumas had the better of scrappy first half courtesy of a try to captain Gonazlo Longo while his Wales counterpart Charvis was in the sinbin.
Instead of shooting for goal from the handy position, Argentina took a quick tap and Longo crashed over in the tackle of flyhalf Ceri Sweeney and seemed to be held up.
But the number eight, standing in as captain for Agustin Pichot, managed to twist in the tackle and ground the ball.
Contepomi added the conversion and his fourth penalty deep into injury time to give the Pumas a handy 19-9 lead at the break after Henson had slotted three penalties for the visitors.
TRY FEST
The second half was barely 30 seconds old when Borges pounced on a turnover to score his first try, which ultimately led to a half where 10 tries were scored.
Wales again threw a loose pass and Borges scooted away untouched for 40 metres to put the Pumas 31-9 ahead.
Felipe Contepomi then ran just past the tired-looking Wales forward pack still bound together from a scrum to score his side's third try within five minutes.
Peel then scored his side's first try by dancing through a poor defence from a quick tap, before Pumas centre Martin Gaitan effectively put the result beyond doubt after a well-worked backline move in the 55th minute.
The game lost all semblance of pattern before Welsh debutant flanker Forster capped a sweeping move in the corner in the 64th minute.
Two minutes later centre Manuel Contepomi crashed over under the posts, allowing his brother an easy conversion that brought up the 50-points.
Wales scored further tries through Charvis, Parker and Luscombe -- the last of which brought the visitors within sight of a remarkable victory. The second and final test is in Buenos Aires on June 19.
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