Scotland beat Argentina amid whistle-blowing havoc

Scotland claimed a home win over Argentina on Saturday at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. The home side won by a record scoreline of 52-29. Los Pumas lost a player to an early red card and three other forwards were yellow carded in the second half. Karl Dickson also handout out a pair of yellow cards to Scotland.

Scotland winger Darcy Graham scored a hat-trick while fellow winger Duhan van der Merwe also scored. Australian Sione Tuipulotu joined the South Africa on the scoresheet with two to his name. Scotland’s total of eight tries was double that of Argentina’s four.

Los Pumas were the first team to score. Emiliano Boffelli landed a penalty to make it 3-0. Scotland responded with Tuipulotu scoring. He went over after linking with fly half Finn Russell. Argentina scored next to reclaim the lead. Center Jerónimo de la Fuente touched down near the left corner flag.

The opening quarter concluded with Argentina leading 8-7. The match was then irreparably changed. Marcos Kremer was red carded for a clear out. The flanker was adjudged to make foul play for an incident that showed bicep to the head contact. Scotland’s Glen Young was yellow carded for the same offense against Australia last month.

Scotland went ahead two minutes after the card; Russell provided a try assist for Duhan van der Merwe to score. Russell converted and was involved three minutes later for the first of Graham’s three tries. Argentina responded with Matías Alemanno charging over and Boffelli made it a four point game at half-time.

The second-half opened well for Scotland. Graham was in support to finish off further impressive work from Russell. Then whistle-blowing havoc followed. Alemanno was yellow carded for a clearance on Jonny Gray and Tomás Lavanini was yellow carded for cynical play. Argentina had reason to feel aggrieved by the first decision but not the second.

Argentina were down to 12 and had no hope of fighting back. They found a way to do so though as Boffelli scored for a 12-man Argentina. Former Wallaby Jack Dempsey lost the ball from which Matias Orlando gathered and ran 60 meters before passing to Boffelli.

Scotland responded through Tuipolotu as Scotland were 31-22 ahead with Argentina still waiting for two second-rowers to return to play. Round two of whistle-blowing havoc saw Argentina lose Thomas Gallo and Scotland lose captain Jamie Ritchie. Both were off for 10 minutes. Tension had boiled over from both teams.

Scotland continued to find space through the Argentine defense. Russell tended to be the man causing the damage. It as so with him kicking through for England u20 center Cameron Redpath to pounce on for the try.

Scotland were not finished yet. Former captain Stuart Hogg scored as did Graham to claim his hat-trick. Argentina had late possession and wanted to finish on a high. Juan Cruz Mallía looked to cut inside only to be brought to ground by Tuipolotu. The tip tackle was yellow carded despite being more dangerous than the game’s earlier red card. It mattered little as time had expired. Ignacio Ruiz got his name on the scoresheet with a try. 

Attention now turns to 2023. Scotland will play next on February 04, 2023 against England. Argentina’s next scheduled match is the 2023 Rugby Championship. If Argentina and Scotland do continue their rivalry in 2023 it will be at a late stage of the World Cup.

SCORING

SCOTLAND 52
Try – S Tuipulotu 2 (9′, 55′), D van der Merwe (24′), D Graham 3 (27′, 41′, 77′), C Redpath (68′), S Hogg (73′)
Con – F Russell 6/8  (10′, 24′, 55′, 68′, 73′, 77′)
YC – J Ritchie (62′), S Tuipulotu (80′)

 

ARGENTINA 29
Try – J de la Fuente (15′), M Alemanno (37′), E Boffelli (50′), I Ruiz (80′)
Con – E Boffelli 2/3 (38′, 51′), N Sánchez 1/1 (80′)
Pen – E Boffelli 1/1 (1′)
YC – M Alemanno (49′), T Lavanini (49′), T Gallo (62′)
RC – M Kremer (22′)

TEAMS

SCOTLAND
1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Fraser Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Jonny Gray, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 6 Matt Fagerson, 7 Jamie Ritchie (capt.), 8 Jack Dempsey, 9 Ali Price, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 13 Chris Harris, 14 Darcy Graham, 15 Stuart Hogg

Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Murphy Walker, 19 Glen Young, 20 Andy Christie, 21 Ben White, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Cameron Redpath

 

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Matías Moroni

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Karl Dickson (UK)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (UK); Ian Tempest (IE)
TMO: Brett Cronan (AU)