Warren Gatland: Wales coach ‘pretty happy’ with win over Argentina
Wales coach Warren Gatland was pleased with his side’s all-round performance as they defeated Argentina 40-6 at the Millennium Stadium.
Tries during the opening 25 minutes by Mike Phillips and George North put Wales in command and Toby Faletau added a touchdown midway through the second period before Ken Owens’ score completed a miserable afternoon for an outclassed Pumas team.
Wales, for whom Leigh Halfpenny also booted over 20 points, comfortably passed their previous biggest win against Argentina of 33-16 as they secured a first autumn scalp since they beat the Pumas four years ago.
“I think from a coaching point of view, we are pretty happy,” said Gatland.
“We felt like there were a few chances we left behind, but apart from that, we finished things off. We started the game well, we were much better in the air and our scrum and lineout was excellent.
“We went in with the ambition of not conceding any tries, and we achieved that goal.
“We give the players a framework to work in, but that doesn’t mean we want them stifled in any way to play rugby and to play what is in front of them.
“If they see opportunities to move the ball and challenge them, we want to encourage them do that.
“I thought we went out there with the ambition and intensity to put a good Championship team away.
“We feel we know where we are going as a team. We feel confident as a team, building towards the World Cup, and we can see a lot more improvement too.
“It’s nice to get a nice big tick. When you see things that you’ve worked on in the week happen on the pitch it’s really positive.”
Wales captain Sam Warburton added: “We did a lot of work on our running lines. All the little things we worked on in the week seemed to pay off today.
“We were confident going into this game. Even though South Africa scored three tries last week, we thought there were a lot of easy fixes for us from that game.
“If we can now get two wins on the bounce it is good for momentum. Even when we were 20 or 30 points up today, the chat among the players was that it still wasn’t enough. We wanted to keep pushing.”
Article source: http://www.scotsman.com/former-scotland-rugby-centre-joe-mcpartlin-dies-1-3165046
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Autumn internationals: Wales win over Argentina please Warren Gatland
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