Uninterested Argentina shamed by Scotland

An uninterested Argentina were shamed this evening by Scotland. In a truly embarrassing effort Argentina was lost on the field, playing with no structure in either attack or defense with Scotland effortlessly scoring points to win 44-15.

The match was Daniel Hourcade’s official exit. He announced a week ago that this would be his last. The desire of going out on a high was not to be with Scotland well and truly the better team as Argentina were  self-desturctive, missing over 30 tackles.

For veteran Leonardo Senatore it was supposed to be a milestone. Yet his 50th cap would be the opposite of memorable. In addition Both Bautista Ezcurra and Juan Cruz Mallía made their test debuts in the match.

Scotland’s gentle path to victory began from the get-go. In the second minute a clean-break from fly half Adam Hastings saw George Horne scoring under the posts after running a support line. Peter Horne converted to give Scotland a 7-0 lead.

10 minutes into the match and Scotland had their second. A similar score this time came from a clean break from Nick Grigg. He would link with Blair Kinghorn who scored

14-0 became worse when 14 minutes in Scotland had their third try. This time it came from a set-piece lineout with captain Stuart McInally getting passed an uninterested Agustín Creevy. The Argentine captain did not attempt to tackle his opposite and McInally brushed off a Nicolás Sánchez attempted tackle to score.

Argentina scored their opening points in the 17th minute. Doing so was Nicolás Sánchez with a routine penalty from in front.

Rather than motivate Argentina to turn their performance around the penalty would be responded to by the Scots. Try number four came through a simple pick-and-go. Having effortlessly advanced to within a meter of the Pumas tryline flanker Magnus Bradbury went over to score.

Pete Horne’s conversion would be followed minutes later by a penalty. It saw Scotland leading 31-3. A hungry Scotland showed how much fun they were having as George Horne scored his second. A kick was tapped back and Horne dived over with a smile. It gave Scotland a remarkable 36-3 lead at half time.

The second half started as the first half ended. In the opening minute Argentina were penalized, committing another basic infringement. The difference, though was Scotland would not score straight away.

First to score in the second half was Tomás Lezana. His try came from a miss thorn own lineout which bounced into his hands. He was able to storm over to touch down. Sanchez converted the 51st minute score to make it 36-10.

Argentina’s horrors continued from the restart with a knock-on from kick-off. Following phases Scotland would go over for a try only to be held up. Their try, though, came shortly thereafter. Scoring unopposed in the right corner was Dougie Fife. His try again highlighted the lack of an organized Pumas defensive line.

Argentina responded through replacement Santiago González Iglesias. His try was a determined effort with him barging over from a scrum, running at the Scots like a bull. Sánchez missed the simple conversion as he went for a rushed attempt.

The only remaining scoring in the match would come via the boot of Pete Horne. He 62nd minute penalty put Scotland ahead 44-15.

Argentina were denied a change of scoring in the final minutes. Andrew Brace raised his flag to signal that Bautista Delguy had a foot in touch. This saw referee Mathieu Raynal going back 40 meters to award Scotland a lineout. Replays confirmed there had never been a foot in touch. Argentina had been set to score.

Delguy was Argentina’s player of the match. Ironically his performance, rather than lift Los Pumas or Los Jaguares, will likely attract interest from outside of Argentina. The policy of Jaguares-only is endangered and Hourcade’s replacement has a group of uninterested players to attend to.

Argentina and Scotland will meet again in November. Before then Los Pumas have to prepare for the Rugby Championship.

Attendance: 22,340

SCORING

ARGENTINA
Try: Lezana, González Iglesias
Conversion: Sánchez
Penalty: Sánchez

SCOTLAND
Try: G Horne (2), Kinghorn, McInally, Bradbury, Fife
Conversion: P Horne (4)
Penalty: P Horne (3)

ARGENTINA
15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 11 Sebastián Cancelliere, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Pablo Matera, 6 Tomás Lezana, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 1 Javier Díaz

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía

SCOTLAND
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 David Denton, 7 Fraser Brown, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally (capt.), 1 Allan Dell

Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 James Lang, 23 Chris Harris