Portugal Colonial - Wales rugby captain Morgan set to be sidelined by shoulder injury

The British and Irish Lions flanker was injured while scoring Wales' third try, and watched the closing moments of a heavy defeat from the bench with his left arm in a sling.

Morgan's impending absence is a huge setback for new Wales coach Steve Tandy, who saw his side concede seven tries in his first game in charge as they endured a record loss to Argentina.

"It's probably a dislocated shoulder, so it's not looking good for Jac and the rest of the autumn," said Tandy. "He's a world-class player, he's huge for us and we know how much he loves playing for Wales and how he leads the team.

"It is massive blow, but ultimately it's someone else's opportunity."

Former skipper Dewi Lake will assume the captaincy for the rest of Wales' November programme, which continues with next week's match against Japan before rugby heavyweights New Zealand and world champions South Africa visit the Principality Stadium.

This was Wales' 10th successive home defeat but Tandy insisted all was far from lost for the team.

"The day ended in disappointment, but there's lots to like around the group," said the former Ospreys boss and Scotland defence coach.

"What we've done in the last two weeks has come out, to score four tries is really positive and we left a couple out there. There is disappointment as well to concede 50 points and a couple of those tries are probably avoidable."

Wales found themselves 14-0 down barely 10 minutes into the game yet fought back to 14-14.

But their cause was not helped by yellow cards either side of half-time for Ben Thomas and Tomos Williams.

Thomas was sent to the sin-bin after kicking out at Pablo Matera when having his leg held on the ground.

That Thomas did not make contact with Matera probably spared him a red card upon review, but Argentina made their man advantage count to build a 24-14 lead with the Wales centre off the pitch.

Tandy added: "There's not a real angle from what I've seen that is conclusive to what it is. There's lots going on, but if it is lashing out you can't do that in a game."

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi, was delighted with a victory that surpassed the Pumas' previous best against Wales -- a 33-11 success in 2021.

"You could see Wales is a new team, but they had very good things," said Contepomi, whose side are sixth in the world rankings and beat both Australia and New Zealand in the recent southern hemisphere Rugby Championship.

"We were a bit more mature in the sense that we were more cohesive because we have been playing together for a longer time."

N.Esteves--PC