Jenkins remains upbeat despite defeat

Ledesma confident of improvement ahead of the second Test

New Wales coach Gareth Jenkins was defiant in defeat in Puerto Madryn and claimed his side will bounce back in Buenos Aires in Saturday's second Test.

Despite losing 27-25 to the Pumas in his first game in charge of Wales, Jenkins saw enough from his young side to go into the final game of the series full of hope.

Having fallen eight points adrift at the end of the first half when they were reduced to 13 men, Wales fought back bravely after the break and scored the try of the game deep into injury time to bring the deficit back to two points.

"It wasn't the result we wanted. We believed all week we could get a win here," said Jenkins, who is missing 21 players and blooded four new caps during the game.

"I am full of admiration for the spirit and intent of this young team. They did everything they could to win that game and I couldn't have asked more of them.

"We came back well after those two yellow cards. We left it late to score a fantastic try to get within two points and it was just a shame there were five more minutes left to play.

"It was a huge effort and we aren't out of this Test series. We are going to Buenos Aires realising we can win."

Jenkins also insisted he was proud of his young team's performance despite slipping to defeat.

"Ultimately it is always disappointing to lose any game of rugby but we will take plenty of positives out of that performance." he said.

"We've been competitive, shown great character and intensity. We showed initiative and took the game to Argentina and we know we are capable of beating them.

"We worked hard to try to get a result and we came very close to doing that. It's a credit to the whole squad that we've been able to go forward.

"We will obviously spend time looking at the video of the game before forming an opinion on whether or not we deserved to win but we made 16 line breaks and that is very encouraging."

Wales ultimately paid for a lack of discipline during the first half when they conceded 13 points while temporarily reduced to 13 men before the break when Alix Popham and Gavin Thomas were sent to the sin bin for technical offences.

"If we're going to front up to such a physical challenge and put your body on the line then it is inevitable that you are going to play on the edge. But it is something we have to look at before the second Test," he said.

Meanwhile Pumas hooker Mario Ledesma, whose experience to steal a Welsh scrum led to Francisco Leonelli's winner, praised his team's performance after securing a third win over Wales in their last four meetings.

"That was a tough game - Wales played well and had obviously analysed a lot of our play and done their homework," he said.

"But we looked like a side that hadn't played together for eight months. When you think of that, it was good to get away with a win.

"We have a lot to do before the second Test but hopefully the next game will be as good as this one. Both teams looked to play rugby, perhaps we tried to play a bit too much rugby and we will have to look at that next week."