Michael Cheika refuses to use indiscipline as excuse after Argentina pick up four cards in defeat by Scotland

Argentina head coach Michael Cheika refused to use indiscipline as an excuse for his team’s 52-29 defeat by Scotland at BT Murrayfield.

The Pumas were soundly defeated by the hosts in Edinburgh, but their cause was not helped by a 22nd-minute red card Marcos Kremer for a tackle to the head of Jamie Ritchie and then second-half sin-binnings of Matias Alemanno (contact to the head), Tomas Lavanini (pulling down a maul) and Thomas Gallo (fighting) that left them short-handed when it mattered the most. However, Cheika did not accept that his players had lost their composure and said “key errors” cost them.

"Mate I don't know,” Cheika responded to posers about his team’s conduct. “I'll have to have a look. There were a lot of penalties and I'm not 100 per cent sure why. I'd have to look at the video. We haven't got a problem with that. I think we gave away seven last week, we had ten the week before. I don't even know how many there were today. Discipline, that doesn't cost you when you need to kick the ball, you've got a penalty and you miss touch, that's not discipline, that's execution. Unfortunately these days it's a thing now, playing with less players, and you've got to be prepared to be able to do it. Then when you are doing that, you've got to do everything really well.

"There were some key errors in the second half that took away opportunities to stay in the match. At a certain point, you've just got to stay in it, stay as close as you can when you are down a man like that. I felt like we could win the game. We certainly had the effort to win the game, but I think we tried to solve some situations on our own, just lacked a bit of concentration at key moments and that cost us directly with tries. That's pretty much about it.”

Argentina's Marcos Kremer was sent off against Scotland, and three other Pumas were sinbinned in the second half.

On the cards specifically, Cheika added: “It is what it is. You guys need to talk to the referees about the cards, not the coaches. They are the ones giving them. We're in a situation where we sit back and cop it. I'm non-plussed about them, whether they come or not.”