An impressive young Wales team scored two tries to claim a 23-10 victory over Argentina in San Juan.

Scores from man of the match James Davies and George North plus 10 points from Rhys Patchell and a late Gareth Anscombe kick proved enough to secure Wales’ first victory in the land of the Pumas in 14 years.

All Argentina could muster was a try from Tomas Lezana while Nicolas Sanchez and Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias scored five points from the kicking tee.

This was a Welsh victory built on a watertight defensive effort which was polished off by some scintillating back play.

Sanchez got Argentina on the board after a mere three minutes with a straightforward penalty after Wales infringed at the breakdown.

Wales opened their account with a magnificent try from openside flanker Davies. With the visitors camped just outside the home team’s 22, the ball was spread left by Patchell to Hallam Amos who put in a sumptuous offload which sent the Scarlets star over the line. Patchell converted.

The Pumas responded with a period of sustained pressure on the Welsh line.

After a series of powerful forward surges, Santiago Garcia Botta forced his way over the try line, but the television match official ruled out the try with footage showing Cory Hill and Rob Evans having their hands underneath the ball.

Argentina kept knocking on the door, but try scorer Davies was able to relieve pressure with an expert turnover on the floor.

With Wales finally back in the opposition half, scrum-half Gareth Davies broke clear off the back of a line-out before drawing his man and releasing North who ran in their second try.

Patchell converted and further extended Wales’ lead with a penalty from 40 metres out after Hadleigh Parkes had stripped the ball in a tackle.

As the first period entered its closing stages, Wales were put under severe pressure by their hosts but showed great character to keep them out, meaning they turned around 17-3 ahead at the break.

Patchell put Wales further ahead early in the second half with a penalty from 30 metres out after Argentina came in from the side at a ruck.

Wales worked hard to try and close the game out with a number of surges close to the Argentinian line. But just as they looked to be making progress, scrum-half Davies knocked the ball forward.

Argentina were rattled, but came close to narrowing the Welsh lead when Emiliano Boffelli fumbled the ball forward with the try line at his mercy after Iglesias put him through a hole.

Worcester Warriors wing Josh Adams very nearly put the game to bed when he sliced through the home side’s defence, though his offload could not find Josh Turnbull who was in support.

Santiago Medrano appeared to have scored the hosts’ first try when he crawled over the try line from short range. But the TMO ruled out the score for double movement as the tighthead prop was held in the tackle.

Argentina finally crossed the line when loose forward Lezana smashed his way through the Welsh defence. Iglesias converted, but Anscombe put the icing on the cake with a simple penalty to seal an excellent victory for Wales.