Wales have kicked off their Nations Championship away campaign proper by flying out to Argentina for their clash with the Pumas this weekend. Steve Tandy's side began their tournament campaign with an impressive 39-24 victory against Fiji at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, in what was technically a home game for the Flying Fijians.
Wales Face Gruelling Travel Schedule
However, the real travelling can now begin, with Tandy and his 33-man squad beginning the 17-hour journey to Buenos Aires, where they will prepare for Saturday's game before making another short flight to San Juan to face Felipe Contempomi's side on Saturday. That clash will come a week before they face the reigning world champions, South Africa, in Durban, with another 5,300 mile-trip across five time zones required to play that fixture.
The gruelling travel schedule is set to pose a series of logistical challenges for Tandy and his side, with the head coach admitting that the squad may only get one full training session together in Argentina, with potentially only another two before facing the Springboks. However, while he admits his squad faces a "unique test", Tandy says there won't be any excuses from Wales about any logistical challenges they may face over the coming weeks.
"We're going to face two unbelievable Tests with limited training but it's going to be a unique test for us," he said. "We'll probably have one session in Argentina together because there'll be separate flights over there. Then in South Africa, we might get two in but it's something that we're looking at." "The World Cup will involve a lot of travelling," he added, looking ahead to next year's tournament. "These sort of tours bond you tighter than before and you learn more about each other. It'll be good for our coaches and some of the boys who haven't been in for a long period of time to get to understand people on a deeper level."
Argentina Bring in Reinforcements
Argentina have made changes to their Nations Championship squad ahead of their clash with Wales, with Felipe Contepomi bringing in three France-based players to boost his roster. Efrain Elias of Toulouse, Justo Piccardo of Montpellier and Clermont's Marcos Kremer have all been brought into the squad as the Pumas look to bounce back from their bruising 38-47 defeat to Scotland in Cordoba on Saturday. Elias has been brought in for the uncapped Luciano Asevedo, who has dropped out of the squad alongside full-back Mateo Soler. Flankers Juan Penoucos and Agustín Sarelli and centre Agustín Fraga remain in the squad as invitational players.
Argentina face Wales in San Juan on Saturday (July 11), with Contepomi's side looking to make it three wins on the bounce against a Welsh side. Wales' last win in the fixture came in Cardiff in 2022, with the 20-13 victory their only one against Argentina since 2018. In the five games that have been held since then, the Pumas have won three with their 2021 clash at the Principality Stadium ending in a draw.
George: Indiscipline Let Us Down
By Duncan Bech, Press Association Rugby Union Correspondent, Johannesburg. Jamie George admitted England were punished for their indiscipline as they crashed to a fifth straight Test defeat after being outclassed 45-21 by South Africa at Ellis Park. Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper were shown yellow cards for illegal tackles that meant Steve Borthwick's tourists were forced to play the final seven minutes of their Nations Championship opener with only 13 men. Inevitably they then leaked tries to Malcolm Marx and BJ Dixon to complete a harrowing evening in Johannesburg.
England have now been hit with 10 yellow cards and one red in their six games in 2026 to continue the self-destructive theme that was raised by their post-Six Nations review as an area of concern. Captain George said: "There are some clear things we need to make sure we get better at and as players we have to take a lot more responsibility with regards to our discipline, which let us down. Outside of that, there were periods where we put the Springboks under a lot of pressure. Speaking to their guys they know they have been in a Test match."
"We are going to be a significantly better team off the back of this experience with a young team coming here and understanding how we put them under a lot of pressure and also understanding how we let that pressure get to us a little bit. This is going to be a great learning experience for us but we are gutted because we genuinely believed we could come here and win. We are going to rally round, stay tight and we are all looking forward to getting to Liverpool and putting in a great performance against Fiji."
