Scotland edged out Argentina at BT Murrayfield on Saturday to end their Autumn Test series on a high.
With rain having fallen constantly from Friday night around Edinburgh, it was never going to be a pretty 80 minutes – and it certainly was not.
Scotland scored the only try of the day through winger Sean Maitland, but could not get their attacking game going.
Argentina had a lot of possession in the first half, but could not make best use of it while they will rue missing four penalty kicks at goal.
Scotland took the lead in the fourth minute when scrum-half Laidlaw kicked a penalty.
Argentina should have been level five minutes later, but their stand-off Nicolas Sanchez missed a relatively straightforward penalty.
In the 23rd minute Argentina had another chance to level things up, but this time it was full-back Emiliano Boffelli who missed the long-range effort.
The visitors were having the better of things though and a neat kick was put through and winger Ramiro Moyano nearly scored, but Scotland centre Huw Jones got there before him.
They were on the scoreboard in the 28th minute when Sanchez’s penalty made it 3-3.
Scotland had struggled to find any rhythm up to that point, but a good break by stand-off Adam Hastings sparked them into life.
A couple of phases later they won a penalty in the ‘22’ and Laidlaw did the necessary to make it 6-3 in the 33rd minute.
Argentina levelled things up in the 43rd minute with a second Sanchez penalty.
However, the same man missed his second penalty five minutes later.
Hastings was still trying to get things going for the Scots and, after he had made the initial break, Jones was tackled high by Argentina hooker Agustin Creevy.
Laidlaw kicked the resultant penalty to put the hosts 9-6 up.
That was in the 55th minute and 10 minutes later Scotland managed to score the game’s only try.
It came thanks to some great thinking from full-back Stuart Hogg, making Laidlaw switch the point of attack with his promptings, the ball going down the blindside with the number 15 taking a pass from the scrum-half and putting winger Sean Maitland in for his 11thinternational try. Laidlaw’s conversion hit the upright.
Sanchez missed his third penalty with 11 minutes to go.
With eight minutes to go Boffelli broke through for Argentina and fed Jeronimo De La Fuente. The centre was almost away, but he was caught by Scotland replacement Sam Skinner and the force in the tackle saw him knock the ball on.
Soon after Sanchez kicked a penalty to make it 14-9.
Laidlaw’s penalty in the 79th minute was short, but Scotland held on.
Reaction
Tennent’s Man of the Match Greig Laidlaw
“I felt we had control during the game and did enough to win it. The conditions dictated how we played. International rugby is about winning, and we have beaten a strong Argentina team.
“You have got to be patient on days like this, don’t try to attack too early and play in the right areas. The forwards put us in the right areas and, eventually, we got our reward.”
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend
“A couple of times in the second half our defensive line was breached but we got back in numbers to stop Argentina scoring tries. I am impressed the team found a way to win.
“We were tested. Argentina kept the ball for a lot of phases and they played well. The conditions meant it wasn’t going to be a game won off passing the ball wide.
“We didn’t have our best first half admittedly, but I felt second half we brought more energy to the game and did enough to win.”
Scotland hooker Fraser Brown
“It was real hard conditions out there, the ball was very greasy and there was a lot of kicking, a lot of pressure.
“It was pleasing in the end. We maybe didn’t manage that middle period of the game particularly well, but the bench had a really good impact and controlled that last 10 minutes.
“Even in these conditions, we don’t want to go into our shells and play a negative game.
“It’s great to bounce back after last week’s loss to South Africa and Argentina were going to be fired up for the last game of their season.”
Stats
Teams:
Scotland: Hogg; Maitland, Jones, Russell, Kinghorn (McGuigan 66); Hastings (Dunbar 60), Laidlaw (C); Dell (Allan 66), Brown (McInally 60), Berghan (Nel 50), Gilchrist, Gray (Skinner 66), Ritchie, Watson, Strauss (Wilson 50).
Not used: Horne.
Argentina: Boffelli; Delguy (Cancelliere 72), Moroni (Orlando 41), De la Fuente, Moyano; Sanchez, Bertranou (Landajo 50); Garcia Botta (Zeiss 66), Creevy (Montoya, 60), Medrano (Sordoni 66), Petti, Lavanini (Alemanno 61), Matera (C), Bruni, Ortega Desio (Lezana 50).
Scorers:
Scotland: Try: Maitland (65). Pens: Laidlaw (4, 33, 55).
Argentina: Pens: Sanchez (28, 43, 74).
Yellow cards: none.
Red cards: none.
Tennent’s Man of the Match: Laidlaw (Scotland).
Referee: Williams (New Zealand).
Attendance: 67, 144.
Thanks to Scottish Rugby’s Twitter feed and David Gibson/FOTOSPORT for the images
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