Rugby Union: Wales sweep Pumas aside

MAX BOYCE has been busy writing new verses for "Hymns and Arias" recently, what with a win over England and the inauguration of the Welsh Assembly and Millennium Stadium to consider. Now Boyce, a follower on this tour, can say, "I was there" for Wales's 2-0 sweep of the Test series, the first by a home union in Argentina. If not quite the stuff of legends, it sits very nicely in the scheme of Wales's World Cup preparations.

The sounds blaring out of the Welsh dressing-room afterwards were more contemporary than Boyce's works of rugby folklore. The Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers are more to the taste of the Welsh jersey's current incumbents.

The man with a design for life, or at least for Welsh rugby, is Graham Henry. When their Kiwi coach first took on the job last August, he looked at the team. Then, after the Five Nations defeat by Ireland, he looked at himself. "I thought I had pressed the wrong buttons," he said after this, his team's fifth successive win since the Irish beat them at Wembley. "The players wanted to do the job and I began to work on the head rather than the heart."

For a few seconds in the first half on Saturday, some of those heads went missing. A brawl involving around half of the players, at a time when Argentina were trailing 8-3 to a Garin Jenkins try and a Neil Jenkins penalty, spilled across the touchline in front of the main stand. The passions of the crowd were ignited. Simultaneously the players got the red mist out of their system, at the expense of yellow cards for the Pumas Pedro Sporleder and Mauro Reggiardo as well as the Wales prop Peter Rogers.

From the cloud of pitchside dust there emerged a touch of comedy. Wales's bear of a lock, Craig Quinnell, swatted Argentina's diminutive scrum- half, Agustin Pichot, from his path as he made to confront Sporleder. "Thirty seconds later," smiled Quinnell afterwards, "Pichot was on my back." The pair are close friends after two years together at Richmond.

Sporleder admitted there might have been at least one red card shown, but the only troublesome incident thereafter was a further yellow card for Brett Sinkinson at a second half ruck. Pichot returns to London on Wednesday to give a final answer to the clubs chasing him, Bristol and Harlequins.

Henry declared himself pleased with his side's discipline and Wales, controlled if unspectacular, cut out the reckless penalties which undid them against Ireland. Argentina rued the selection at outside-half of Felipe Contepomi, who appeared to buckle under pressure. They play in Scotland and Ireland in August, before kicking off the World Cup against Wales on 1 October.

For the first time, the amateur Argentina Rugby Union is considering full-time contracts for its leading 30 players.

In 12 days' time Wales do battle with South Africa for the third time in a year, this time at the Millennium Stadium. Dare we predict even more success upon its palletted playing field? While Neil Jenkins is around - on Saturday he moved up to 803 points in Tests - many things are possible. Henry, the arch-pragmatist, prefers to deal in the probable.

"If you have not got character and courage you haven't got anything really. And we have got them. These guys have won five Tests in a row and their confidence is soaring. But there are harder games to come.

"I thought our scrummage and lineout was excellent. I am just so proud of the guys and what they have achieved. It has been a very hard and a very physical tour. To keep going after 10 months of tough rugby takes some doing."

Argentina: Try Orengo; Conversion Cilley; Penalties Contepomi 3. Wales: Try G Jenkins; Penalties N Jenkins 5; Drop goal N Jenkins.

ARGENTINA: D Albanese (SIC); O Bartolucci, J Orengo (both Atletico del Rosario), L Arbizu (Brive), G Camardon (Alumni); F Contepomi (Newman), A Pichot (Richmond); R Grau (Saracens), F Mendez (Northampton), M Reggiardo (Castres), P Sporleder (Curupayti, capt), I Fernandez Lobbe (Liceo Naval), R Martin (SIC), M Ruiz (Teque), G Longo (SIC) Replacements: J Cilley (SIC) for Contepomi 54, A Allub (Jockey Club) for Fernandez Lobbe 61, M Ledesma (Curupayti) for Mendez 73, L Ostiglia (Hindu) for Martin 74, O Hasan (Auch, Fr) for Reggiardo 77.

WALES: S Howarth (Sale); G Thomas (Cardiff), M Taylor (Swansea), A Bateman (Northampton), D James; N Jenkins (both Pontypridd), R Howley (Cardiff, capt); P Rogers (Newport), G Jenkins, B Evans (both Swansea), C Quinnell (Cardiff), C Wyatt (Llanelli), G Lewis (Pontypridd), S Quinnell (Llanelli), B Sinkinson (Neath). Replacements: D Young (Cardiff) for B Evans, 61; J Humphreys (Cardiff) for G Jenkins, 74.

Referee: C White (RFU).