Scotland claimed a 14-9 victory over Argentina in wet conditions in Edinburgh on Saturday. DYAN JACK reports.
The Test was heavily affected by the pouring rain, with both sides struggling to hold on to the ball. What was expected to be an exciting game between two free running backlines became increasingly tactical as both flyhalves opted for the aerial route.
The only try of the match came in the second half, after some incredible handling from the Scottish backs and Stuart Hogg in particular, who released wing Sean Maitland to made no mistake to finish off.
Greig Laidlaw opened the scoring with an early penalty, but Argentina missed two attempts to level the scores with Nicolás Sánchez and Emiliano Boffelli off target.
Sánchez did convert his second chance, though, as the Pumas grew into the game and secured more of the ball in Scotland’s half. However, Laidlaw kicked a second penalty to give the hosts a 6-3 lead at the break.
Sánchez again levelled the scores with a penalty early in the second half, but then missed an opportunity to give his team the lead.
Some good play from the Scotland backs saw Adam Hastings burst through a gap, winning a penalty that Laidlaw kicked over.
Maitland then went on a good run to score the only try of the Test, before Sánchez missed yet another penalty to narrow the gap.
Sánchez’s third penalty brought the Pumas back within striking range, but the visitors were again let down by some poor handling as they sought a winning try.
Scotland – Try: Sean Maitland. Penalties: Greig Laidlaw (3).
Argentina – Penalties: Nicolás Sánchez (3).
Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Finn Russell, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Allan Dell.
Subs: 16 Stuart McInally 17 Alex Allan, 18 WP Nel, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 George Horne, 22 Alex Dunbar, 23 Byron McGuigan.
Argentina – 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Augustin Creevy, 1 Santiago Garcia Botta
Subs: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Matias Orlando, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere.
Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
