Scotland 41 – Argentina 31
by “Lee Grant”
Scotland, under new head coach Vern Cotter, beat Los Pumas narrowly in the summer but Argentina used many of their local players and saved their Euro Pumas for the TRC. A week later the Scots were brought back to cruel reality when the Boks beat them by nearly 50 points at Port Elizabeth.
Argentina wanted to treat their history-making victory over the Wallabies in the TRC as just a beginning, not an end in itself. The result of the Murrayfield match would be a test of whether they could get back to their glory days of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, or not.
Both sides had a fresh, audacious aspect to them. We saw new Argentine players in the TRC but Cotter has been bold choosing inexperienced players also.
Brothers in arms – Jonny and Richie Gray
The home crowd murmured when Argentina got a random try early but then Scotland played one of the finest halves of rugby I have seen from them. Featuring second row brothers Jonny and Richie Gray, who were playing together for the first time, they delivered a bravura performance before the break and won the game
First half
Argentina got a lucky break in the second minute when the ball was dislodged in a tackle and 7. JO Desio loped along touch with only grass in from of him to score.
Javier Ortega Desio – shocked home crowd with early try
But that was the high point of the half for them as the the Gray brothers scored tries the fifth and 22nd minute to bring the score to 14-7 for Scotland. Straight after the restart of the second try 9 Greg Laidlaw tapped a penalty kick and hared up field and passed right on the money, wide to winger Sean Maitland who scored.
Laidlaw, who Argentina found difficult to contain the whole match, converted all three tries for Scotland and kicked a penalty.
Argentina kicked a goal themselves but were a shadow of the team that beat the Wallabies in Mendoza. They were flat and reactive, though they didn’t help their cause when winger Juan Imhoff got a yellow card for not using arms in a tackle on the 20 minute mark and Scotland scored two of their converted tries when he was sitting down.
By contrast Scotland was sharp and innovative. You could see the cohesion of the ten Glasgow players performing in the starting XV but the Argentines looked like headless chooks..
Half time: Scotland 24 – Argentina 10
Stuart Hogg – scoring try set up by Laidlaw
Second half
Argentina looked sharper in the second half but Laidlaw took the first chance Scotland had. When a defender made a false start the Scotland scrummie raced into the gap before offloading to 15 Stuart Hogg to score. Scotland 31-10 at 47 minutes.
The half settled down to a stop-start barge and charge exhibition of ugly rugby. Although Laidlaw kicked a penalty there wasn’t another five-pointer until referee Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty try to Argentina when Scotland had someone in the bin. It made the count Scotland 34-17 with eleven minutes to go.
Needing two converted tries and change to win, Argentina moved the ball but winger Tommy Seymour saw them coming and intercepted on the Los Pumas’ 22 and ran to the posts giggling, for a try. The Scots didn’t have much possession or territory in the second half, but they had two chances and converted them both into tries.
Scotland got another yellow card to reserve Jim Hamilton, a prime suspect of referees, and reserve scrummie Tomas Cubelli scored two tries to make the score more respectable for Los Pumas.
Final score: Scotland 41 – Argentina 31
Laidlaw was the clear man-of-the-match.
Argentina got some self-respect back in the second half but they were outplayed on the day.
Greg Laidlaw – man of the match
The teams
Scotland: 1. A. Dickinson, 2. R. Ford, 3. E. Murray, 4. R. Gray, 5. J. Gray, 6. R. Harley, 7. B. Cowan, 8. A. Ashe, 9. G. Laidlaw (c), 10. F. Russell, 11. T. Seymour, 12. A. Dunbar, 13. M. Bennett, 14. S. Maitland, 15. S. Hogg.
Reserves: 16. S. Lawson, 17. G. Reid, 18. G. Cross, 19. T. Swinson, 20. A. Strokosch, 21. H. Pyrgos, 22. D. Weir, 23. S. Lamont.
Argentina: 1. M. Ayerza, 2. A. Creevy(c), 3. R. Herrera, 4. T. Lavanini, 5. JC Guillemain, 6. R. Baez, 7. JO Desio, 8. L. Senatore, 9. M. Landajo, 10. N. Sanchez, 11 M. Montero, 12. JM Hernandez, 13. M. Bosch, 14. J. Imhoff, 15. J. Tuculet.
Reserves: 16. M. Cortese, 17. LN Paz, 18. NT Chaparro, 19. L. Ponce, 20. F. Isa, 21. T. Cubelli, 22. SG Iglesias, 23. H. Agulla.
The scoring
Scotland 41 (R. Gray, J. Gray, S. Maitland, S. Hogg, T. Seymour tries; G. Laidlaw 4 cons, 2 pens) def. Argentina 31 (T. Cubelli 2, JO Desio tries; pen try; JM Fernandez 3 cons, N. Sanchez con, pen)
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