Jonathan Davies: The next Welsh centre?
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Argentina are next up for the Welsh in Cardiff on Saturday, both looking to develop their game a little further from last week.
Argentina were limited but effective against England in the rain. Shorn of three influential players for the tour, indeed, in Juan Hernandez, Felipe Contepomi and Juan Leguizamon shorn of three players who would be critical to an open game plan, the Pumas have come to show what they have in reserve and to bed the newbies in with simple effective rugby.
That might work against an England side low on both confidence and personnel, we'll have to see how tight the Pumas can keep it against a Wales team straining to unleash itself - perhaps straining a little too hard.
Wales spent the first 20 minutes of the match stretching Samoa from one side of the field to the other admirably, but first got impatient and then lost shape. Keeping that shape and staying accurate will be crucial against a Puma team that is all about shape and structure and currently very little about threatening of its own accord. Not being able to score a try against England is a telling statistic when you have as much possession as Argentina did.
"We want to play some rugby," said Welsh coach Warren Gatland.
"We expect them to kick a lot of ball so it's up to our back three to counter attack when there are chances, but we have to be smart and not run into brick walls. We're certainly looking to increase the tempo and intensity from last week's performance against Samoa."
It's the 'not running into brick walls' aspect the Welsh have to be careful of. They have a more creative back division than England, particularly with James Hook growing astutely into the full-back role, but there was an element of patience missing from the Samoa game that Argentina could easily exploit.
Argentina's pack represents a brick wall as sturdily-built as any the Welsh are likely to come across over the next few months, while the catapult boots of the half-backs and the full-back rain down missiles that the Welsh will have to run back effectively to stymie the Argentinean attempt to win by suffocation.
Should the Welsh not, it is a worrying doubt whether the Welsh could resist that suffocation. They may be punching a heavier weight than when Argentina inflicted a 30-16 defeat on the Welsh in 2001, but the Welsh pack is weakened by the absence of Adam Jones and still seems to struggle with wars of attrition.
The Pumas are promising more though - a development on last week's solid platform.
"That was a missed opportunity against England," said Argentina coach Santiago Phelan.
"The players played with pride but we should have attacked them more and that is something we want to improve against Wales.
The teams have played out some classics down the years and seem to bring out the best in each other. Both seem intent on doing so again, but that would play into Wales' hands. Argentina's chances rest on just how tight they can keep it. An interesting clash awaits.
Ones to watch:
For Wales: Jonathan Davies gets a chance to shine on the big stage at last, having been waiting patiently for some time. Tom Shanklin will not last forever and Davies is the heir apparent, but he will now have to prove he can step into the size elevens...
For Argentina: Rodrigo Roncero is one of Argentina's most prized assets and with a less experienced tighthead cornerstoning the Welsh scrum, Roncero is going to call on his years of experience and typically Latin aggression to make the Argentinean scrum once again a weapon of choice.
Head to head: Patricio Albacete v Alun-Wyn Jones brings together two of the world's finest locks. Both are renowned not only for line-out ability but for their breathless open play work-rate, so you can expect them to come face-to-face - limb-to-limb really - all over the park as well as in the skies above the line-out.
Recent results:
1991 Wales won 16-7, Cardiff Arms Park (RWC)
1998 Wales won 43-30, Llanelli
1999 Wales won 36-26, FC Oeste, Buenos Aires
1999 Wales won 23-16, FC Oeste, Buenos Aires
1999 Wales won 23-18, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (RWC)
2001 Argentina won 30-16, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2004 Argentina won 50-44, Tucuman
2004 Wales won 35-20, Velez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
2006 Argentina won 27-25, Puerto Madryn, Patagonia
2006 Argentina won 45-27, Velez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
2007 Wales won 27-20, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Prediction: Wales to win a tight game by about eight
The teams:
Wales: 15 James Hook, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Dan Lydiate, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Andrew Bishop, 22 Tom James.
Argentina: 15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Mauro Comuzzi, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Agustin Figuerola, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe (c), 7 Alfredo Abadie, 6 Tomas Leonardi, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 22 H San Martin.
Date: Saturday, November 22
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 14:30 GMT
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Christophe Berdos (France), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match officials: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)
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