Wales 33-16 Argentina, Millennium Stadium, November 21
Gatland hails Welsh progress
Scrum.com
November 21, 2009
Shane Williams breaks clear in midfield, Wales v Argentina, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, November 21, 2009
Shane Williams scored twice as Wales cruised to victory over Argentina © Getty Images
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Wales boss Warren Gatland likened fly-half Stephen Jones to "a good red wine" after he guided his team to victory over Argentina.

While wing Shane Williams lit up the contest with two tries in a record 33-16 win, Jones' tactical assurance built a solid platform for victory. The 31-year-old Scarlets number 10 contributed 17 points, including his first Wales try since the 2006 Six Nations, as Wales ran out comfortable winners.

"Stephen is like a good red wine, he gets better with age," said Gatland. "We are pleased with that performance, it was a step up from the first couple of games (in the autumn). We played some good rugby, there were a lot of positives.

"We still feel there is another level in us and it is about improving game by game, week on week. The next step is try to get our percentage of wins up to 75%, but we are pleased with the progress we are making. It's about putting pressure on ourselves. We went out there today and played some really good rugby."

Gatland also had words of praise for current world player of the year Williams, who scored his first tries at the Millennium Stadium since November last year. Outside of their summer tour to North America, Wales had not registered three tries in a game since last season's Six Nations opener against Scotland.

"Shane is such a talented rugby player," said Gatland. "It's great if you have got two, three or four players in your team with the x-factor, and we are lucky to have some of those."

Wales captain Ryan Jones felt his team thoroughly deserved their success, only a third in the last seven meetings against Argentina. "We are happy," he said. "The boys stood proud, we defended superbly and we've got two wins out of three in this autumn campaign.

"It is about dusting ourselves off now for next weekend against Australia. We made a few errors but we are improving. We did more things right than we did wrong. I liken Shane to a Premiership football striker. He's a predator, someone you always want walking out of the tunnel with you, and Stephen is a world-class number 10."

Argentina failed to build on their display against England last weekend, a game they lost 16-9, and skipper Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe offered no excuses. Despite Lobbe's man-of-the-match contribution, Argentina offered little in attack and were ultimately punished.

"Wales spoke all week about trying to attack us but the tries we conceded were soft ones and you just cannot do that at this level," he said. "With the first try we lost concentration. We got ourselves in the mode that he (Jones) was going to kick for goal.

"I haven't seen a try like that in years at this level and we are really disappointed with ourselves. I believe everyone in the stadium thought he was going to kick for goal. I was also a little bit frustrated with the way the scrum was refereed. I am not an expert in that area but it was very tough on our loosehead prop Rodrigo Roncero. He was getting penalised all the time."

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