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Scotland banished any lingering demons from November as they opened their Nations Championship with an impressive 47-38 away win over Argentina.
The Scots arrive in Cordoba looking to showcase their growth since losing 21-0 at home to the Pumas last autumn.
They did so on sure footing, overcoming time of adversity at the start of each half to run in seven tries at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes and begin their campaign against a team ranked two places above them.
Scotland – without injured talisman Finn Russell at fly-half – ran in three tries before the break, captain Sione Tuipulotu, prop Pierre Schoeman and center Rory Hutchinson putting the visitors 19-10 up at half-time.
Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, debutant Gregor Hiddlestone and Kyle Rowe added the rest of the second-half tries, while Fergus Burke and Tom Jordan both converted three.
Argentina were on the board first through Joaquin Oviedo and saw Rodrigo Isgro score early in the second half, with Thomas Rappetti adding another try in the 65th minute – as Scotland went down to 14 men – to spark hope of a late fightback.
Scotland quickly regained a significant advantage before Argentina scored two late tries through Lucio Cinti and Agustin Moano, with Tomas Albornoz converting five of the Pumas’ tries and adding a penalty.
“To be honest we knew it was going to be a back-and-forth battle, like the one we faced in the fall against Argentina,” Tuipulotu said. “All these things we’ve said, especially coming away from home.
Scotland’s Cion Tuipulotu takes on Argentina’s Faustino Sanchez Vallaro and Gonzalo Garcia.
“There was going to be a point in the game where we had to get the momentum back and when they really got hot in the second half we responded really well.”
Earlier on Saturday, New Zealand beat France 34-32 in Christchurch and Japan beat Italy 27-10 in Tokyo. Andy Farrell’s injury-ravaged Ireland beat Australia 33-31. in sydney
Wales made a winning start to their campaign with a 39-24 win over Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium. South Africa started with a 45-21 win over England at Ellis Park.
England scored three early tries in their heavy loss to Australia
What next?
World Rugby bills the 12-team Nations Championship as North vs South. The tournament has two conferences, the South – where northern teams travel south in July – and the North – when southern teams travel north in November.
Gregor Townsend’s side have now won four of their six Tests this calendar year as they head to Pretoria for next Saturday’s showdown with South Africa (kick-off 4.40pm), while Argentina host Wales later that evening (8.10pm).
Six rounds of matches will lead to a final series in London in late November, which World Rugby says will identify the world’s best teams.
