Match Preview – Scotland vs Argentina

With a history dating back to 1969 Scotland and Argentina have a long and important rugby rivalry. On Saturday it will continue with Los Pumas being the visitors to the Scottish capital.

Scotland Head Coach Gregor Townsend has made nine changes from last weekend. The northern Europeans were defeated 26-20 by South Africa.

Of the changes six come in the forwards including an entirely new front-row. Having been replacements against the Springboks Allan Dell, Fraser Brown and Simon Berghan are to all start against Los Pumas.

In the second-row Grant Gilchrist partners Jonny Gray with Ben Toolis missing out. Also back is Jamie Ritchie who Sam Skinner dropping to the bench while South African Josh Strauss is recalled for the first time in over a year.

The three remaining alterations come in the backs. Greig Laidlaw will continue at scrum half, doing so as captain. His halves partner will be Adam Hastings who has been promoted from the bench with Finn Russell moving to inside center.

Outwide Blair Kinghorn returns to play on the wing. He is joined by Stuart Hogg and Maori All Black Sean Maitland in the back-three.

Mario Ledesma has also gone for changes. Returning to France is Mariano Galarza. This coincides with Guido Petti reverting from flanker to the second-row and Matías Alemanno being dropped to the bench.

Taking over at flanker is Rodrigo Bruni. In his first test start he will join Javier Ortega Desio and captain Pablo Matera in the back-row. His selection comes as note with him naming no Super Rugby experience, Tomás Lezana being on the bench and both Juan Manuel Leguizamón and Leonardo Senatore unwanted for the tour.

In the backs the one change sees Matías Moroni replacing Matías Orlando. It does not come as a surprise following last Saturday’s defensive frailties in the mid-field against France. Orlando drops to be bench joining Martín Landajo, and Sebastián Cancelliere as the replacement backs. Landajo is in for Tomás Cubelli.

There are some notable match-ups to look out for. Stuart Hogg and Emiliano Boffelli are excellent fullbacks while Sean Maitland and Bautista Delguy are highly skilled finishers outwide. Look to the engineers to see a mega tussle with Jonny Gray up against Tomás Lavanini.

Saturday’s fixture will be the 21st between Scotland and Argentina. The two countries share the spoils with 10 wins each from the prior 20 matches.

Yet Argentina have struggled recently against Scotland, the last win being the RWC 2011 victory in Wellington, New Zealand. Edinburgh’s Murrayfield has had eight matches between the countries with the teams both having four wins. Argentina’s victories were in 1999, 2001, 2005, and 2009.

Scotland played very well against Fiji and South Africa while Argentina were out of sorts against France and also not at their best against Ireland. With a strong performance overdue Americas Rugby News predicts a 6 point win by Argentina.

TEAMS

SCOTLAND
1 Allan Dell, 2 Fraser Brown, 3 Simon Berghan, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 5 Jonny Gray, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Josh Strauss, 9 Greig Laidlaw (capt.), 10 Adam Hastings, 11 Sean Maitland, 12 Finn Russell, 13 Huw Jones, 14 Blair Kinghorn, 15 Stuart Hogg

Replacements: 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
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Emiliano Boffelli

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Matías Orlando, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere

Date: Saturday, November 24
Kick-Off: 14:30 local (06:30 Pacific, 09:30 Eastern, 11:30 Argentina)
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Referee: Paul Williams (NZRU)
Assistants: Nigel Owens (WRU) & Dan Jones (WRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
Broadcasts: ESPN