THIS was a match that had just about everything. One red card, five yellow, 12 tries, a mass brawl, and most importantly a big win for Scotland.
The red card – for Argentina openside Marcos Kremer midway through the first half – unarguably had a major influence on how the game unfolded. But even before he was given his marching orders for a dangerous clear-out on Jamie Ritchie, it had become obvious that Scotland were in the mood to finish the Autumn Nations Series on a high.
In the end, they did exactly that, racking up their highest score against the Pumas. Sione Tuipulotu claimed two tries in his best outing for the team, the irrepressible Darcy Graham went one better, and Duhan van der Merwe, Stuart Hogg and second-half substitute Cameron Redpath chipped in with one apiece.
The truly outstanding performance, however, came from Finn Russell, who was in majestic form throughout. The notion that Russell was somehow not in good enough form to merit inclusion in the original squad for the series sounded highly implausible when first mooted by Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, and it has not gained credibility with age.
Russell and his team-mates were responsible for the bulk of the entertainment, but Argentina certainly did not lie down after losing Kremer. Indeed, when they were reduced to 12 men at one point and might have been thought at a low ebb, they scored within a couple of minutes thanks to Emiliano Boffelli.
It was the Edinburgh player who opened the scoring with a penalty, and the teams then traded blow for blow in an opening quarter that saw Tuipulotu score the first try of the game.
Jeronimo de la Fuente restored the Pumas’ lead, but then Kremer was sent off for his gratuitous arm to the Scotland captain’s head.
The home team soon took advantage of the extra man, with Van der Merwe scoring from a Russell off-load, and then Graham finishing off after a Russell break.
But Argentina hit back late in the half, and Matias Alemanno’s try made the score at the break an insecure-looking 24-19.
Barely 70 seconds after the re-start, however, Graham grabbed his second from a Hogg pass to give his team a bit more breathing space.
They had had a nine-point lead against the All Blacks six days earlier only to let it slip from their hands, but modern history would surely not repeat itself so swiftly, would it?
When Alemanno went into the bin for foul play and his fellow-lock Tomas Lavanini followed him a minute later for cynically collapsing a maul, Scotland had a three-man advantage. Perhaps they tried too impatiently to make it count, because a sudden counter-attack by the Pumas ended with that Boffelli try.
With that brief wobble out of the way, however, the home side soon got back on top thanks to Tuipulotu, who scored in the right corner from a Hogg pass.
Graham appeared on the verge of adding another try only to be tackled into touch, and then chaos briefly descended as the majority of players from both sides joined in a melee.
The upshot of it was that Thomas Gallo and Ritchie were both shown yellow cards, although in all honesty referee Karl Dickson might well have disciplined several others instead of or in addition to that pair.
Scotland got their shape back after that, and five minutes later the game was decided when Redpath touched down from a kick through by Russell.
Hogg got on the scoresheet six minutes from time – again, almost inevitably, thanks to a pass from his fly-half.
Two minutes from time Graham completed his hat-trick, the scoring pass coming from Blair Kinghorn this time.
Argentina wanted a consolation, and after Tuipulotu was sin-binned for a tip tackle, replacement hooker Ignacio Ruiz scored from close range.
Nicolas Sanchez’ conversion was the last kick of the match.
Scorers, Scotland – Tries: Tuipulotu 2, Van der Merwe, Graham 3, Redpath, Hogg. Cons: Russell 6.
Argentina – Tries: De la Fuente, Alemanno, Boffelli, Ruiz. Cons: Boffelli 2, Sanchez. Pen: Boffelli.
Scotland: S Hogg; D Graham, C Harris (C Redpath 61), S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe (B Kinghorn 70); F Russell, A Price (B White 54); P Schoeman (J Bhatti 66), F Brown (G Turner 58), Z Fagerson (M Walker 66), J Gray, G Gilchrist (G Young 75), M Fagerson, J Ritchie, J Dempsey (A Christie 58).
Argentina: J Mallia; B Delguy (N Tetaz Chaparro 63), M Orlando, J de la Fuente (L Paulos 51), E Boffelli; S Carreras (N Sanchez 61), G Bertranou (L Bazan Velez 77); T Gallo (F Isa 77), J Montoya (captain, I Ruiz 64)), E Bello (S Medrano 57), M Alemanno, T Lavanini (M Moroni 61), J Gonzalez, M Kremer, P Matera.
Red card – Argentina: Kremer 23.
Yellow cards – Argentina: Alemanno 49, Lavanini 50, Gallo 63. Scotland: Ritchie 63, Tuipulotu 80+3.
Referee: K Dickson (England).
Attendance: 61,811.
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