Duncan Hodge had his first close-up view of Test rugby as an unused replacement on Scotland's tour to Argentina in 1994, and the Scotland skills and kicking coach, who went on to win 26 caps for his country, has been an interested observer of the way the Pumas have developed their game since.
Games between the Scots and Argentina have traditionally been pretty close and stuffy affairs, with the South Americans historically reluctant to spread the ball wide, but Hodge warned that their admission to the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship in 2012 had led to a dramatic change of style.
"They've changed a lot as a team, especially since they've entered the Championship," Hodge explained. "Historically they were really strong up front - in the scrum and lineout and with kicking 10s - but there are some quality individuals in the back line that's playing against us.
"They played some good rugby, scored some good tries and caused some good defences issues in the Championship, so they're a team to be respected. They've got a pretty complete game now. They can mix it how they want, so it's important that we do as well."
However, if the Argentines have opened things up, Hodge made it clear that his side are doing likewise - a more expansive Scotland game is taking shape as well.
"We've got some mobile, skilful players out there, and you mould the game plan to fit that," Hodge said.
"But we shouldn't forget we're playing against good quality opposition, and there are certain aspects of your performance you have to get right.
"We're unlikely to win the game by playing in our back third the whole time. We have to transfer the pressure on to them, we have to get our kicking game right - all these things add up. It's not as simple as saying we're going to change our attitude."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article