After all, Wales have only won one Test match since 2023, while Argentina can count New Zealand among their conquests this year.
This was Steve Tandy’s first game as Wales head coach, a fresh start of sorts, but the attendance was 50,185 – the lowest for a non-Covid-era game since 2016.
It’s all relative – many sporting entities would love that kind of support – but it is still a sizeable drop from the capacity crowds of close to 75,000 which the Welsh Rugby Union has come to rely on for much of its income.
Whereas sell-outs used to be a given, there is now an acceptance of Wales’ new reality.
And more striking than the empty seats was the way in which that acceptance manifested itself in such a flat and passive atmosphere.
Yes, the volume increased as Wales briefly fought back with two tries to level the score during the first half – but that optimism was short-lived.
You can’t really blame the fans. This was a 10th successive home defeat for Wales, with the two most recent visitors racking up 120 points between them.
Yet as those supporters streamed out onto Westgate Street after the final whistle, much of the chatter was strangely upbeat.
Some were impressed by the sharper looking attack, others encouraged by the brief spells where Tandy’s young charges competed with superior opposition.
But it is a grim state of affairs when conceding 52 points at home – having shipped a record 68 against England on their last outing at this stadium – is considered par for the course for Wales.
Even for a country which has swung wildly from soaring highs to crushing lows throughout its tumultuous rugby history, this is a nadir for the game in Wales.
You would not have known this team were Six Nations champions four years ago; Grand Slam winners and World Cup semi-finalists two years before that.
By now, they are languishing in 12th in the world rankings. Losing has become so routine that people have become desensitised to the humiliation.
That is why each Argentina try prompted little more than a puff of the cheeks from those watching in the stands.








