Unlike the football team, Scotland’s rugby team were making a brief appearance in South America this summer as they took the field in the sunshine of Cordoba on a Friday afternoon for a test with an Argentina side coming off two defeats by Ireland.
An untried selection from Vern Cotter had plenty to prove. Ross Ford and Nick De Luca were back from the wilderness; Cowan, (Kieran) Low, Jonny Gray and Rob Harley all had points to prove and Pete Horne had to impress after a shaky test against Canada.
Early scrum victories and good lineout takes from young captain Gilchrist – plus Ford hitting his jumpers – provided set piece hope, but there was still plenty of the scrappy handling from the off that has been a hallmark of this tour.
The Scots back three have been waiting for a centre who can pass to unleash them with the required pace and Nick De Luca is at least an actual center. After only 7 minutes he fizzed the ball out to Seymour who sprinted down the wing and shuffled it inside to Hogg who was bundled over for the first score, delight on his face. Weir converted from the touchline, and the sun was shining on Scotland.
This being Scotland, De Luca’s next act was to give the ball away. As Argentina barely had the ball in the opening ten minutes it was distinctly charitable, but gave them a chance to test Scotland’s defence that started well but grew leakier as the game wore on.
Seymour could have scored a second try had the bounce of the ball been kinder, but both sides were aiming to entertain and instead Argentina countered almost from their own line, playing patiently and coming closer to Scotland’s line until they were left with a simple 2 on 1, and Maitland wrong-footed on the wing. The conversion was missed to keep Scotland in the lead.
Maitland has been good defensively so far on tour but he was almost taken in again when slick hands from standoff Nicolas Sanchez to Amorisino found space in behind Scotland; luckily the chip ahead was overcooked. Sanchez took his chance moments later though, with an accurate if ugly drop goal.
The set piece though was a source of sustenance for Scotland, especially with Weir and Hogg playing the territory well. The second row pairing of Gray and Gilchrist were eager to carry ball in the loose and the lineout was unnaturally secure, at least by recent standards.
Despite immense pressure from the Argentinians at the breakdown they were possibly too eager to retrieve the ball and Scotland had a penalty on the stroke of half time to retake the lead. Weir missed it, so the Pumas went in ahead, just.
HT Argentina 8-7 Scotland
The second half saw the worrying trend of Argentine breakdown dominance continue, as even Nicolas Sanchez was able to trap Peter Horne and then convert the penalty he was awarded to increase the home side’s lead.
The Scots had a great chance moments later, as Seymour chipped through and Grayson Hart made a great tap tackle to pressurise Argentine full back Amorisino. Scotland turned him over and Kieran Low went close, but when it went wide the backs were not patient enough.
Argentinian pressure over the tackle was stopping Scotland from getting anything else moving and even the lineout started to creak as the Scots looked a little flustered.
They did put several impressive phases together with big carries from Gilchrist, Gray and Low – who grew into the game the more physical it got and was excellent in the lineout – but they couldn’t quite unlock the Argentinian defence close in to get over the line. Weir was at least given a penalty chance and he duly brought Scotland within a point.
Sanchez hit back straight away as Scotland conceded at the breakdown, and Argentina showed they weren’t going to fade out of this game.
Pyrgos added some fizz when he came on for the efficient Hart, but the quality of passing lessened slightly.
The spark came instead from the Argentina bench as Joaquin Tuculet showed real gas over a short distance to fly round Cowan and get past the last line of defence with a wonderful try, but again the conversion was missed.
Scotland were not totally adrift, but listing badly and taking on water.
Another nice break by Seymour shook them back into the game but when Irish referee Lacey awarded a penalty, the points were spurned by Gilchrist in the first big call of his captaincy. They needed 2 scores for the win but he opted to go for the big score first rather than an easily kickable three.
Scottish Rugby doesn’t usually do fairytales – not in the last fifteen years anyway – and so the inevitable failure to score the try (after two bites at it) may be a source of regret for the young lock, rather than the source of the inspiring victory he craved.
That looked like it was slowly creeping away with the Cordoba sunshine.
Even with a whole new front row of Reid, MacArthur and Welsh Scotland still had control in the scrum though. Even against a renowned scrummaging side like Argentina they earned Scotland another kick at goal which gave Weir a much harder penalty with ten minutes to play. He calmly slotted it to restore a little hope.
Hope turned to happiness seconds later as De Luca, who had one of his better Scotland performances, found the tiniest of gaps to squeeze Tommy Seymour through and the wing blazed down the touchline, giving Pyrgos an easy run in. The TMO checked to see if Dougie Fife had interfered with a defender but the try stood.
Agonisingly, Weir missed the kick though to make it a one point game in Argentina’s favour with 5 minutes to play.
Scrappy in defence and bullied at the breakdown, Scotland had at least dominated set-piece all game so it was fitting that an athletic lineout take by Kieran Low give them the field position for a driving maul and another penalty from Lacey.
Jeers and vuvuzelas made a racket round the stadium as Weir settled himself in front of the posts but the young flyhalf kicked it cleanly and put Scotland back into the narrowest of leads.
Argentina came back at full pace as they had all game with dominance of the restart and some lovely offloads but in the end Sanchez – arguably their best player – snatched his last-gasp drop goal wide and Scotland hung on for another tight win.
Vern Cotter: 3 from 3.
Despite this, Scotland have work to do.
SRBlog Man of the Match: Tommy Seymour – clearly out to prove that Tommy not Tim should fill the other wing slot alongside Sean and Stuart. Made ground with almost every carry and his pace was a nightmare for his opposite number. On this form, should start against South Africa.