Third at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, a quarter-final place in 2011 and fourth in 2015: a record that suggests Argentina are already firmly established among the elite teams in world rugby.
They would have been dissapointated with only a win over South Africa in the Rugby Championship but showed an exhilarating style of rugby was no flash in the pan for the Pumas.
Argentina will provide a mouth-watering proposition for Wales in the Under Armour Series in November here are our four talking points.
1. Argentina love to run from deep.
Joaquin Tuculet, such an outstanding player at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, made 15 runs for 102 metres this weekend against Australia, more than any other player on the park.
Wingers Santiago Cordero and Lucas Amorosino are huge threats too and so kicking the ball back across a broken field to the Pumas back three is a recipe for disaster.
Argentina do, however, struggle to arrange their defensive line quickly, and so a short hack forwards, as Will Genia showed for his first try, or an angled grubber to the corner, as Quade Cooper tried a few times, can create opportunities from a turnover.
If Wales are able to kick low behind the advanced Pumas wingers when they push up, or exploit the space in front of the back three with little dinked balls if they sit back, Argentina could be slow to react. Aimless punts to the back three, though, will put Wales under constant pressure.
2. The Pumas’ strength is running with the ball in hand?
Against the Wallabies, they ran 181 times for 467 metres, compared to the Green and Gold’s 69 runs for 367 metres. They also offloaded 34 times to Australia’s five; this constant, flowing style of play is what makes the Pumas so attractive to watch.
Australia, though, defended well, despite conceding 16 penalties. They always tried to keep the Argentina runners on their feet, exploiting the Pumas’ vulnerabilities in the rolling maul.
The Wallabies also used a lateral drift defence and were not often sucked into rushing up and leaving themselves open to the offload. The one time a Wallaby broke the line to press a runner, Argentina scored in the corner.
Absorb the pressure – 143 tackles’ worth in this case, maintain the defensive line, and Argentina struggle to score; get tempted into using a rush defence, and the Pumas will rip you open.
3. Their is tenacity can be also be a weakness
Australia’s second try was a delightful move from their line-out and relied on Quade Cooper’s expert ability to deliver a flat, short, inside pass.
Argentina love to press the fly-half when in possession, and their back-row are expert at this, but if, as Cooper showed, the number 10 drifts wide then delivers a short pass inside, the Pumas do leave gaps in the three-quarters’ defensive line as they push up.
Michael Hooper’s try for the Wallabies was another example, again from a Cooper pass, of how the Pumas’ desire to defend aggressively can leave holes.
This is an area where Argentina are vulnerable and, whether from the set-piece or from open play, if Wales bring strike runners onto the short inside ball, they will be able to penetrate the Pumas’ line.
Australia found a chink in Argentina’s defensive armour at the weekend. For their second try – in just the 8th minute – Dane Haylett-Petty (14) scored after a move that started with a line-out just outside Argentina’s 22.
The line-out ball was popped to scrum-half Will Genia (9), who drifted to his left. Samu Kerevi (13) came hurtling through as a missed-pass dummy runner, taking out the nearside Pumas defenders.
Cooper (10) then took Genia’s pass and drifted slightly to his left, with Bernard Foley (12) and Israel Folau (15) outside him as options.
But, as the Pumas closed in on Cooper, he popped a pass inside and flat to Haylett-Petty (14) who has run a curved line from behind Cooper before straightening up and taking the ball very flat and running directly ahead at the line to score.
4. Weather the storm and you will prevail
Against New Zealand in week 2, Argentina were right in the game with half an hour to play, trailing by only two points. In week 3 against the Wallabies, the Pumas scored 13 unanswered points between the 13th and 52nd minutes and enjoyed 67% possession and 68% territory. They went on to lose both matches, 57-22 and 36-20.
Sides facing Argentina are likely to suffer an onslaught, particularly in the middle of the match, and will have to make tackle after tackle to halt their strike runners.
Australia looked weakest when they kicked possession away cheaply, but if a team is able to defend, retain the ball, and choose their moment to attack, they can exploit the Puma’s weakness in depth and the spaces that appear towards the end of a match.
It’s about game management and not panicking, though that’s a tough ask when Facundo Isa is running at you!
Under Armour Series tickets are available from www.wru.wales/tickets, starting from £20.
