Pumas toothless in Cardiff

Hook booted 13 points in Wales' victory

Wales made it two out of three wins in their World Cup build-up with a 28-13 victory over Argentina at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

A lacklustre start from the hosts, in the final warm-up match before they head to New Zealand, saw Argentina dominate for much of the first half.

But Warren Gatland's men produced a stunning turnaround with two quick-fire tries by Andy Powell and Alun-Wyn Jones just before half time from which the Pumas were unable to recover.

Pumas Fly-half Felipe Contepomi twice failed to grab an early lead from kickable penalties in the opening six minutes, and centre Marcelo Bosch missed a mid-range drop goal from in front on 17 minutes.

The first points came after almost half an hour, when Adam Jones was penalised for dragging down a rolling maul out on the right.

Devastating

This time Contepomi struck the target, but only just, his kick bouncing in off the far upright to put the South Americans 3-0 up on 29 minutes.

The Argentine stand-off fluffed his lines again just four minutes later however, pulling his kick narrowly wide after Wales were caught offside on the left.

And the usually deadly kicker was left cursing those missed points moments later when the hosts blasted in for a devastating double-strike to turn the game on its head.

The first came from Andy Powell, who raced in on 36 minutes after collecting a neat pass from Jones and two minutes later Jones latched onto North's pass to cross for Wales's second.

James Hook slotted both conversions to take the hosts into the break with 14-3 lead despite enjoying little possession.

Ragged

Four minutes after the restart Hook extended his side's lead to 14 points when he banged a long-range penalty straight down the middle after good work from the Welsh forwards.

And ten minutes last the fly-half took his tally to four out of four with another three-pointer to make it 20-3 and effectively end the game as a contest.

Contepomi found the target on 61 minutes to close the gap by three, but with just eight minutes to go North burst through an increasingly ragged Pumas defence for a well worked try.

Hook missed the conversion to leave the scores on 25-6 and on 76 minutes the Argentine trademark driving maul provided Martin Scelzo with a consolation try.

Contepomi struck the conversion to make it 25-13 but Hook had the final say with an injury time penalty to close things out.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland will name his final World Cup squad on Monday.