Edinburgh (AFP) – Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi was left eyeing the prospect of a first Pumas clean sweep on a UK tour following an astounding comeback win over Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday. Scotland seemingly had the game won at 21-0 approaching the final quarter after Jack Dempsey’s try was followed by two from Ewan Ashman. But a loose pass by Scotland fly-half Finn Russell, followed by a yellow card for Blair Kinghorn, helped turn the tide as Argentina won at Murrayfield for the first time in 16 years.
The Pumas ran in five tries in an extraordinary closing 23 minutes, with captain Julian Montoya, Rodrigo Isgro, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, and Justo Piccardo all crossing Scotland’s line. Santiago Carreras, on as a replacement, kicked four conversions. With Argentina having already beaten Wales 52-28 in the Autumn Nations Series, they will now look to end this trip with a victory at Twickenham next weekend over an in-form England, who are on a 10-game winning streak following their 33-19 defeat of New Zealand on Saturday.
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“This was a huge challenge for us,” said Contepomi. “When we have come to the UK before, there were a few times when we won two games, but not very often. Every now and then we win one, but we have never won three in a row in the UK.” He added: “It will be a different challenge next week against England. The challenge will be huge because they are probably the most on-form team in the world at the moment, bar maybe (world champions) South Africa.”
Reflecting on how fortunes had changed for Argentina in Saturday’s second half, former Pumas playmaker Contepomi said: “I think when we scored and Scotland had that yellow card, we started playing, and suddenly the momentum shifted and the guys accelerated so it was very good for that.”
Carreras made a major impact in open play and off the kicking tee, with Contepomi, whose side beat both New Zealand and Australia in this season’s Rugby Championship. “As a 10 (fly-half), he’s the one who has to pull the strings,” said Contepomi. “But I think it was all the bench, and also the starters, because it’s like pounding the rock… We couldn’t break it in the first half, but it broke maybe in the last minute.”
For Scotland, this loss was arguably even more of a blow than last week’s defeat by New Zealand, where they levelled the match from 17-0 behind at half-time only to lose 25-17. Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, whose position will come under fresh scrutiny after such a remarkable reverse, said: “I definitely didn’t see that coming.” Scotland were booed off the field by their own fans at full-time, with stunned captain Sione Tuipulotu saying, “As players we’re going to have to take a good hard look at ourselves because it’s not a good enough performance from us.”
© 2024 AFP
