A 25 point haul from Felipe Contepomi paved the way for Argentina to post a 30-16 win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium, as the pressure increased on Welsh coach Graham Henry.
Following the win, Contepomi said: "I think we needed that. In the last four years we have come here three times and I think the third time is the one that you win. To beat Wales here is something marvellous. Argentina rugby was waiting for this. Twenty-five years ago we lost in the last seconds but today we did it and played well."
He was quick to pay tribute to all those unsong Pumas heroes in the Argentina pack.
Contepomi added: "The battle always starts in the forwards but it is our strength. We would like to play more in the backs but we know our weaknesses and we know our strengths. Our gameplan is to play for field position and then make it hard for teams up front."
Wales lacked ideas and discipline as they had done in the Six Nations defeat to Ireland last month, and the future of Welsh rugby and coach Graham Henry looks bleak especially when the world champions, Australia arrive in the capital in a fortnight's time.
Argentina had lost the five previous full internationals between the two nations even though they had beaten a John Dawes led Welsh XV back in 1968.
Tenth placed Zurich World Ranking side Argentina were always on top of Wales, ranked three places above them, and from the kick-off there was really only one side with the desire to win this Test.
In beating Wales by 14 points the Pumas finally completed a series of wins over the whole of the Six Nations countries, that game 33 years ago was not recognised as a full Test match.
It was another woeful Wales performance throughout the whole of a terribly uninspiring first 40 minutes. Iestyn Harris' Test debut did not go to as scripted and two major errors from the 1995 Rugby League Player of the Year were punished by the Pumas with two tries.
Harris had his forwards to thank early as 13 minutes for saving five points after his kick was charged down.
Argentina were much sharper, particularly at the breakdown, and were not flattered after thet went into the break 16-7 ahead thanks to three penalties and a converted try from Contepomi.
Contepomi put the away side ahead with his first penalty after 25 minutes before he charged down another attempted Harris kick just outside the Welsh 22. The 24-year-old showed some super soccer skills to tap the ball over the whitewash and hold off Lions back row Colin Charvis in a race to touch the ball down.
Contempomi added the conversion and then another penalty to put his side 13-0 in front but a terrific Welsh move just before half-time brought Henry's side back into contention.
Scott Quinnell, overtaking the legendary Mervyn Davies as Wales' most capped No.8, was heavily involved as well as Harris. The Welsh half-back pairing moved the ball right across to the right flank and Darren Morris was one of three on the overlap and easily touched down for his first Test try to put Wales right back into the game.
Harris easily slotted the conversion for his first union Test points to make the score 13-7.
However, more home side indiscipline gifted Contepomi another penalty and the last kick of the half left nine points between the teams at the interval.
Contepomi missed a chance to extend Argentina's lead again straight after the restart with his second wayward penalty but Welsh counterpart made no mistake three minutes later to pull the score back to 16-10.
Argentina's second try 10 minutes into the half put two scores between the sides once more and wrested the game out of Wales' reach.
Another poor Harris kick collected by Contepomi gave the initiative to the Pumas deep inside the Wales half. Gloucester's Diego Albanese showed great awareness to send the ball out to Roma's Gonzalo Camardon, who out-muscled Rhys Williams on the Welsh right wing to go over in the corner.
Contepomi missed the conversion and when another Harris penalty dissected the uprights just after the hour a Welsh escape seemed a remote possibility.
The two opposing No.10 swapped further penalties before a simple Contepomi drop goal put the Pumas 11 points ahead once more.
Contepomi's fifth penalty five minutes before the end put plenty of daylight between the two teams and sealed a magnificent first victory for the Argentina Test team in Cardiff over Wales.
Man of the match: Bristol's Felipe Contepomi did everything asked of him without doing anything spectacular or out of the ordinary. We thought that this game would be all about his opposite number Harris but the 24-year-old Argentinean stamped himself on the game from the off. Capitalised on the inexperienced Harris' horrendous mistake to take the game by the scruff of the neck and from there never looked back.
Moment of the match: Wales never recovered from Argentina's second try which again arose from a Harris kicking error. Contepomi started the move and fed another Premiership Puma in Gloucester's Diego Albanese, who showed great composure to feed Camardon and the Roma wing completed the formality.
Villain of the match: It would be harsh to pick out Harris but his error strewn performance probably owed more to his inexperience in the two complete union games he has participated in. Wales coach Henry probably needs to give Harris more time to adapt to his new code especially after never playing the 15-man game before his arrival at the Arms Park.
Sin-bin: Ostiglia 80 mins
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves: Roberto Grau, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Lucas Ostiglia
Unused: Martin Durand, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Gonzalo Quesada, Bernardo Stortoni
Wales: 1 Darren Morris, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Andrew Moore, 5 Craig Quinnell, 6 Gavin Thomas, 7 Colin Charvis, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Iestyn Harris, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Stephen Jones, 13 Gareth Thomas, 14 Anthony Sullivan, 15 Kevin Morgan
Reserves: Jamie Robinson, Iestyn Thomas, Allan Bateman, Brett Sinkinson, Chris Wyatt
Unused: Dwayne Peel, Barry Williams
Referee: Dume j.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Camardon G.F. 1, Contepomi F. 1
Conv: Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.: Contepomi F. 5
Drop G.: Contepomi F. 1
Wales
Tries: Morris D.R. 1
Conv: Harris I. 1
Pen K.: Harris I. 3
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