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A daunting autumn schedule for Wales but if Tandy gets his selection right we can start with a win
Western Mail
|November 06, 2025
AS if our autumn fixture list wasn't difficult enough to start with by including games against South Africa and New Zealand - the top two teams in the world rankings we begin with Argentina, who beat the All Blacks and gave South Africa a good run for their money in the Rugby Championship.
We have been used to seeing Argentina playing the game through their forwards over the years.
They haven't completely neglected that approach but they have been prepared to use their backs much more with a great degree of success in recent times.
Wales will, subsequently, need to be able to organise their defence in the wider channels.
We face the prospect of world number one South Africa in the last game of the series without a significant number of the squad who are unavailable for selection because the game falls outside of the World Rugby window.
Also, as a side issue, this is further compounded by the fact that the players who are selected for that game will be unavailable for the regions in important URC fixtures.
It puts us in a difficult situation all round.
Other than for financial reasons, it makes you wonder why we persist in arranging this fixture outside of the World Rugby window, particularly as we haven't had a team capable of competing for some time.
In the past, from a position of strength, we have at least had the luxury of developing youngsters and, as Gatland was in the habit of doing, completely changing the team for the tier two game.
This time our tier two game, Japan, is a pressure game. World Cup seedings are at stake. This is a game that we need to target.
Don't forget, we lost the first test to Japan on our summer tour so they won't be pushovers.
Therefore, we will need to put out our best team. That is, if Steve Tandy knows what his best team is yet.
This is where we come down to the business end of Steve Tandy’s new reign as Wales head coach - the selection of the team to play Argentina in his first game in charge on Sunday.
Following the announcement of the full squad, there has been plenty of speculation regarding his expected team selection and we have all got our own thoughts and opinions, in that respect.
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