On Sunday, more than 300 residents from Steve Tandy's home village of Tonmawr travelled up the M4 to Principality Stadium full of pride and hope. 

They wore club colours. Tandy, their most famous product, was taking charge of his nation for the first time. 

It represented a special moment for both the head coach and those closest to him. 

In the end, despite moments of Welsh promise, Tandy, his players and the villagers of Tonmawr would have gone home disappointed having shipped more than 50 points.

There was to be no dream debut. And a dislocated shoulder suffered by captain Jac Morgan, who was simply outstanding, is a big concern with the rest of Wales' autumn campaign in mind. Morgan was forced off with the problem suffered in the act of scoring. He is now set to miss the rest of the campaign and possibly the start of the Six Nations. Tandy's first game did provide some positives. 

Wales looked like Tandy had got his messages across. There was an attacking threat to their play. But they were also too ill-disciplined and soft in defence. 

Argentina, who have beaten the Lions and New Zealand this year, are a side who don't need a helping hand and ultimately, they won well. This record Pumas victory over Wales was one fuelled by forward and aerial dominance. 

What Wales needed was to stay in the contest in the opening quarter, to build some confidence back after such a wretched run. It didn't happen. 

Tandy's young team was almost instantly 14-0 down. Blair Murray did give them some early impetus down the wing but tries from Pedro Delgado and player of the match Geronimo Prisciantelli continued what has been a familiar theme for Wales fans for the past two years or more. Wales gave away too many penalties for offside. 

But to their credit, the response was excellent. The handling was neat, sending Tomos Williams between the posts. Tom Rogers and Morgan played key roles in creating the try Dan Edwards improved. 

Principality Stadium was far from full, the crowd a result of Wales' struggles pre-Tandy. But the 50,185 in attendance nearly took the roof off when their team levelled up the scores. 

Dewi Lake crashed over after Wales turned down what would have been a simple three points to go for the try. Morgan relieved Argentina pressure with a key turnover. 

But with Wales back in the contest, they weren't helped by going down to 14. Referee Ben O'Keeffe yellow carded Ben Thomas for his attempted kick on Pablo Matera. 

Thomas didn't make contact, but was sin binned regardless. It was a reckless move from the Cardiff centre and he was perhaps fortunate not to avoid his punishment being upgraded to red. Despite having a man advantage, Argentina knew they were in a game. That was shown by Santiago Carreras kicking for goal. 

Morgan was everywhere. His country's only Test Lion in the summer, he whirled around the pitch like a dervish, carrying and running hard with the ball and battling hard at the breakdown without it. 

Thomas' card proved to be crucial. Without him, Wales conceded two quick tries on the verge of the break through Newcastle's Simon Benitez Cruz and the outstanding Mateo Carreras. It put Argentina 31-14 up at the break. 

Matera setting up Mateo Carreras was a hammer blow to Welsh hopes. Wales weren't help by 19 missed first-half tackles and a wobbly line-out. Their defence was too passive too which would have annoyed Tandy given that is his area of expertise.

Bautista Delguy scored Argentina's fifth when the game resumed. 

And that was pretty much that, especially with Williams yellow carded in the run-up to the try for an off-the-ball tackle. It forced No 10 Edwards to play scrum-half. On came Louis Rees-Zammit for his rugby return. Morgan never threw in the towel. 

He powered over for a deserved try, but was injured in doing so and couldn't continue. Chasing the game, Wales played from their own 22 and succeeded in only gifting a second to Prisciantelli. 

Morgan did appear to watch the rest of the game from the bench. 

Aaron Wainwright also limped off as Tandy's men ended the game not only beaten but battered and bruised, albeit showing bravery to the very end. 

Murray grabbed a late Welsh fourth and Santiago Grondona completed the scoring with Argentina's seventh, but the outcome had long since been decided.