Nothing short of a disaster for Scotland, but a magnificent comeback by Argentina. The hosts were 21-0 up and cruising in the second half when a loose Finn Russell pass was seized on by opponents who had been poor until that point.
Blair Kinghorn was soon in the sin‑bin and a sensational flurry of five Argentina tries in the final 24 minutes sealed Scotland’s fate. It was all orchestrated in stunning fashion by Santi Carreras of Bath, one of five replacements who appeared together after half-time.
Disappointment generated by inaccuracy and uncertainty is a familiar theme for home fans but this, a record comeback for Argentina in Test rugby, was far more painful than most.
The talent of Scotland’s fly-half, Russell, had terrorised Argentina in a collectively dominant first half. A swivel of the hips or a dart of the eyes had carved the Pumas open but, like it or not, he will be held responsible for this collapse after an extravagant attempted pass, soon after half-time, led to a profound shift.
“It’s such a huge momentum swing,” Gregor Townsend, Scotland’s head coach, said of the Russell error that sparked a calamity. “Sometimes you make an error and nothing happens … But for it to flip the field and us to lose a yellow card, it was obviously very costly. That’s down to the actions of others as well, and very good play by Argentina.”
Felipe Contepomi, the Argentina head coach, conceded they were “imprecise” before the break, but insisted he was always confident of a contest, saying it was akin to “pounding a rock”.
Contepomi said: “I wasn’t angry at half‑time. We knew the challenge we were facing and we said this was going to go for 80 minutes. We felt when we had the ball with long sequences we could hurt them. We started playing, suddenly the momentum shifted and the guys accelerated.”
Rory Darge admitted he is perplexed at how Scotland allowed themselves to unravel so spectacularly in Sunday’s dire defeat by Argentina.
Scotland looked to be cruising to victory as they led 21-0 midway through the third quarter, but the Pumas hit back with five tries in the closing 24 minutes to claim a remarkable 33-24 win.
The nature of the capitulation – met with booing from sections of the capacity Murrayfield crowd – has brought fresh focus on the position of the long-serving head coach, Gregor Townsend.
“It was a quiet changing room afterwards,” said the vice-captain Darge. “21-0 up and it felt that way, we felt like we were on top. It was a massive momentum swing and we struggled to stem the flow. The guys on the pitch are the ones that have to do better. “
Asked how a match could turn so dramatically, Darge said: “It’s not good enough. Watching it back, I’m sure there will be loads in there from 21-0 onwards that we can do so much better.”
Darge felt Scotland picked up where they left off in the second half of their spirited 25-17 defeat by New Zealand the previous week as they bossed the Pumas for the first 50 minutes. However, the Glasgow back row acknowledged his side became flustered when the visitors started finding their way back into the game and admits that they need to remain far more clear-headed when faced with adversity.
“We’re constantly looking at ways to get better and I think we had a massive carry-over from last week in what worked for us,” said Darge. “21-0 up, putting them under stress and on top from an attack point of view, from a defence point of view, set piece. Obviously, what we need to look at is how we keep our composure in that last 30 minutes when we’re so far ahead.
“Maybe a bit of an understanding of what Test match rugby is like from us in those moments. You have to be ruthless, particularly against a team as good as Argentina. If you’re not, they can score tries. We just weren’t good enough in that last half hour."
Attention now turns to their Autumn Nations Series game against Tonga on Sunday. “We need to watch the game back and let it hurt over the next wee while and during the reviews and then quickly the mindset will flip on to Tonga,” Darge said. PA Media
It had all been going so well for Scotland. After Darcy Graham marked his 50th cap pre-match, Russell skilfully created the first try, popping a short pass to the No 8 Jack Dempsey, who ran a perfect line after Juan Cruz Mallía had been sent to the sin-bin.
The visitors were cracked open again through Russell’s creativity, this time after a garryowen collected by Graham. Ewan Ashman smashed through a couple of defenders and gave Russell a simple conversion.
When Argentina fouled up an attacking lineout Contepomi held his head in his hands. Even when Rory Darge was penalised for a dangerous clear-out, they missed touch with the clearing kick, and Ashman thundered over again. Russell converted and it was 21-0 after 44 minutes. All going well.
Contepomi mixed it up two minutes later, unloading five replacements in one hit. Then came that booming, loose pass from Russell with Scotland pushing for the score that would have buried their visitors.
Agustín Moyano scorched down the right, kicked inside for Mateo Carreras and Kinghorn was shown a yellow card for infringing at the ensuing ruck. The Argentina captain, Julián Montoya, took a scrum and was vindicated when he forced himself over the line. Argentina smelt blood.
Rodrigo Isgró soon powered over, then Pedro Rubiolo, with 10 minutes remaining, and from 21-0 down the Pumas had pulled it back to a five‑point game at 24-19. They kept coming. Pablo Matera scored the try that took Argentina ahead, barging over from close range. Fittingly it was Santi Carreras, the architect of the comeback, who converted the decisive try after a television match official check.
A turnover in the Scotland 22 then allowed Justo Piccardo, another replacement, to complete Scotland’s misery. Murrayfield was stunned, and Argentina could barely believe it either.
“As players we need to take a good hard look at ourselves,” the Scotland captain, Sione Tuipulotu, said. “If we had scored one more try the floodgates could have opened … We deserve to cop it a bit as a playing group. That performance just was not good enough and we have to own that.”
Argentina, after thrashing Wales last weekend and now shocking Scotland with this classic comeback, face England at Twickenham on Sunday. “It will be a different challenge next week against England,” Contepomi said. “The challenge will be huge because they are probably the most on-form team in the world at the moment, bar maybe South Africa. On form, probably England.”
Townsend was left to protest that mental fragility is not an issue for this team. “Collectively and individually, we have to do better,” he said. Scotland fans would concur.
