Wales win ends with red card after ugly incident

Wales sealed a series victory over Argentina and finished their summer tour undefeated, but their success met a sour end when Ross Moriarty was red carded after the final siren.

The Wales back-rower was shown red in the 82nd minute of the game by referee Jaco Peyper after he put Argentina fly-half Nicholas Sanchez in a chokehold and appeared to bite him following an altercation.

Sanchez started the altercation with a push to the back of Moriarty, who retaliated by swinging an arm at his opponent.

Sanchez then jumped on Moriarty before being placed in the chokehold.

Morarty had Sanchez in the hold for around eight seconds in clear view of the assistant referee. An Argentinian medic intervened, pushing Moriarty in the face before another Argentinian player put Moriarty in a similar hold.

Wales claimed Sanchez had provoked Moriarty, but after a review of the footage by the television match official referee Jaco Peyper deemed the incident met the criteria for a red card.

It's all kicking off#ARGvWAL pic.twitter.com/Uq2QB49qda

— Channel 4 (@Channel4) June 16, 2018

Peyper told Wales captain Cory Hill the act was deliberate and around the neck.

“The assistant ref tried to call him off three times. He choked him and choked him,” Peyper said.

It’s likely Moriarty will be faced with a lengthy sideline stint for his actions.

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Fly-half Rhys Patchell did most of the scoring for Wales. The Scarlets playmaker put his side 6-0 up with a pair of penalties before his loose pass was gathered by Josh Adams, who burst through the Argentina defence and crossed in the 11th minute.

A conversion and two further three-pointers from Patchell made it 19-0, but Argentina took advantage of a defensive lapse to get Bautista Delguy in for their first points before the break.

Having worked tirelessly throughout the opening period, Wales’ front five continued to control the game after the interval and the reliable Patchell split the posts twice more within 12 minutes of the second half.

Argentina could not cope with the high tempo and good handling from Moriarty, Scott Williams and George North teed up a try for Hallam Amos to make it 30-5 with under an hour on the clock.

Argentina went on to score a try after the red card incident, taking the final score to 30-12 in Santa Fe.

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