Wales have toured Argentina on five previous occasions
Wales have toured Argentina on five previous occasions
Wales have arrived in Argentina to continue almost 60 years of history of travelling to face the Pumas in their own backyard.
It has been eight years since Wales previously toured South America, although this will just be a passing visit with one Nations Championship game in San Juan before Steve Tandy’s side move on to face South Africa in Durban.
Wales have never before made the 7,000 miles trip to play just one game on these shores, with the squad arriving in Argentina on two different flights.
There has been plenty of dramas and incidents during previous Wales trips to Buenos Aires and beyond.
BBC Sport Wales charts the colourful history of when the Pumas have hosted Wales.
1968: Caps or no caps? Wales make first Argentina trip
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Gruelling games and gauchos – Pumas v Wales 1968
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Gruelling games and gauchos – Pumas v Wales 1968
It has been 58 years since Wales’ first trip to South America, when the Pumas shocked the visitors by winning the series with a victory and a draw.
It was a six-match tour led by coach Clive Rowlands which included three wins, two draws and a defeat.
For Phil Bennett and JPR Williams it was the start of a successful career, for others 1968 would be the only chance they would have to don the Welsh jersey.
At the time, the two matches were not considered official by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), though they were subsequently given Test status when seven players were awarded president’s caps in 2013.
1999: Wales make history in violent series
Wales were captained by Rob Howley on the successful tour of Argentina in 1999
Wales were captained by Rob Howley on the successful tour of Argentina in 1999
It would be 31 years before Wales returned to South America.
Graham Henry’s squad created a little bit of history when they became the first northern hemisphere side to secure a 2-0 Test series win against the Pumas in Argentina.
Both games were played in Buenos Aires, as Wales won 36-26 and 23-16 with the two Test wins forming part of a 10-match winning streak under Henry.
Neil Jenkins kicked 18 points in the second Test which took him past 800 international points.
That game will also be remembered for one of the most infamous punch-ups in Welsh rugby history.
It started on the pitch and ended up in the dug-out after Argentina prop Mauricio Reggiardo punched Wales wing Dafydd James, with players from both sides becoming involved in the melee.
Reggiardo, Argentine captain Pedro Sporleder and Wales prop Peter Rogers were all shown yellow cards with somehow nobody being sent off.
The bad feeling between the two nations continued into the opening game of the World Cup in Cardiff in 1999 when Wales hooker Garin Jenkins was the victim of an eye gouge and flanker Colin Charvis was banned for two games following an act of retaliation.
2004: All square as Shane dazzles for Wales
Shane Williams scored 58 tries in 87 internationals for Wales
Shane Williams scored 58 tries in 87 internationals for Wales
There was a similiarity between the 2004 tour and what the current squad are experiencing 22 years later, with Wales facing Argentina and South Africa on the same trip.
In June Mike Ruddock took charge of his first Wales tour, starting by facing the Pumas in a two-Test series in Buenos Aires.
Wales lost the opening game 50-44 in a 94-point 11-try thriller in which Felipe Contepomi – now Argentina coach – scored 20 points, one more than Wales’ Gavin Henson.
The tourists gained revenge seven days later with a 35-20 win, thanks to a dazzling first-half hat-trick from Shane Williams and 15 Henson points.
After the euphoria of levelling the series, Wales had to make the long arduous journey across five time zones to face South Africa at altitude in Pretoria.
It unsurprisingly finished in a 53-18 defeat.
2006: Argentina on top as Alun Wyn Jones starts record-breaking Wales career
Alun Wyn Jones played 158 internationals for Wales and 12 Tests for the British and Irish Lions
Alun Wyn Jones played 158 internationals for Wales and 12 Tests for the British and Irish Lions
Wales lost both Tests in Argentina in 2006 in the first matches under another new head coach, Gareth Jenkins, who had been appointed to replace Ruddock in April 2006.
The first Test was played in Puerto Madryn, a city in the heart of the former Welsh colony of Patagonia, founded by settlers from Wales in 1865.
The Pumas scraped to a 27-25 victory with the game representing the start of the international career of lock Alun Wyn Jones, although he packed down in this game at flanker. Jones would go onto to become the world’s most capped player.
His fellow Ospreys lock, Ian Evans, experienced an eventful tour – scoring a spectacular try in the first Test with a 45-metre galloping run after he had intercepted an Agustin Pichot pass.
A week later in Buenos Aires, Evans was cited and banned for six weeks following a reckless and illegal charge on Pichot during a comprehensive 45-27 defeat.
2018: Wales dominate series as Moriary sees red mist
Ross Moriarty was the eighth Welsh player in history to be sent off
Ross Moriarty was the eighth Welsh player in history to be sent off
Wales repeated the two-Test success of 1999 when Warren Gatland took his side to face the Pumas in 2018.
Before the series, Wales played South Africa in a one-off Test match in Washington DC, which was Rassie Erasmus’ first game in charge of the Springboks.
Gatland had selected a squad that was missing a lot of the Wales players involved on the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 2017, with the party led by co-captains Ellis Jenkins and Cory Hill.
Wales won the opening Test in San Juan which is also the venue for this summer’s opening game.
A 23-10 success came thanks to tries from flanker James Davies and wing George North, along with Rhys Patchell’s boot.
Patchell’s 20-points in the second Test in Santa Fe then helped set up a 30-12 win with tries from Josh Adams and Hallam Amos.
The only negative was a late red card for number eight Ross Moriarty who was sent off for a prolonged headlock on Pumas outside-half Nicolas Sanchez.
The series win lifted Wales to third in the world rankings and laid the platform for Gatland’s 14-match winning streak that saw them briefly top the rankings, win the 2019 Grand Slam and reach the 2019 World Cup semi-finals in Japan.
Wales were due to travel to Argentina in 2021 but the two games were switched to Cardiff because of Covid, with the Pumas winning one and drawing the other.
Argentina v Wales past results
Argentina 9-5 Wales, Buenos Aires, 14 September 1968
Argentina 9-9, Wales, Buenos Aires, 28 September 1968
Wales 16-7 Argentina, Cardiff, 9 October, 1991
Wales 43-30 Argentina, Llanelli, 21 November, 1998
Argentina 26-36 Wales, Buenos Aires, 5 June, 1999
Argentina 16-23 Wales, Buenos Aires, 12 June, 1999
Wales 23-18 Argentina, Cardiff, 1 October, 1999
Wales 16-30 Argentina, Cardiff, 10 Nov, 2001
Argentina 50-44 Wales, Tucuman, 12 June, 2004
Argentina 20-35 Wales, Buenos Aires, 19 June, 2004
Argentina 27-25 Wales, Puerto Madryn, 11 June, 2006
Argentina 45-27 Wales, Buenos Aires, 17 June, 2006
Wales 27-20 Argentina, Cardiff, 18 August, 2007
Wales 33-16 Argentina, Cardiff, 21 November, 2009
Wales 28-13 Argentina, Cardiff, 20 August, 2011
Wales 12-26 Argentina, Cardiff, 10 November 2012
Wales 40-6 Argentina, Cardiff, 16 November 2013
Wales 24-20 Argentina, Cardiff, 12 November 2016
Argentina 10-23 Wales, San Juan, 9 June 2018
Argentina 12-30 Wales, Santa Fe, 16 June 2018
Wales 20-20 Argentina, Cardiff, 10 July 2021
Wales 11-33 Argentina, Cardiff, 17 July 2021
Wales 20-13 Argentina, Cardiff, 12 November 2022
Argentina 29-17 Wales, Marseille, 14 October 2023
Wales 28-52 Argentina, Cardiff, 9 November 2025.
