Argentina 16 - 24 Scotland: Scots storm the fortress

ARGENTINA have won every one of the seven Tests that they have played in Tucuman in a run that stretches back to 1973 but that proud record was ended without ceremony by Scotland yesterday afternoon.

• John Barclay is hit by Genaro Fessia and Juan Manuel Leguizamon. Picture: Getty

It was a remarkable game. The Scots looked down and out after falling 13-6 behind in the middle of the first half but they kept the faith, rallied and ultimately took advantage of some chronic indiscipline from the home side.

The penalty count against the Pumas was through the roof and it looked as though no-one had bothered to tell them about the new interpretations at the breakdown. Scotland rarely looked like scoring tries but, given the Pumas' inability to play within the laws, they didn't need to. Scotland won this game with six penalties and a brace of drop goals, all from Dan Parks, who inevitably won the man of the match award for the fourth time in his last five start.

"There is still a long way for us to go," said Scotland coach Andy Robinson. "A lot of improvements to make, particularly with the ball in hand and the two soft scores that we gave away. This is just the start of the journey but we are really pleased with the result (and] with the attitude from everybody. Next week is going to be a very tough game for us, we've got an opportunity now to get back-to-back wins in Argentina, which not many teams have done."

The Scots had no right to be in contention after a hapless and hopeless first half. They leaked two early tries and it could have been more but for some last-ditch heroics, but there were two crucial turning points. The first was when the Argentine breakaway Juan Martin Leguizamon was sent to the sin bin and the second came early in the second half when the Scottish scrum shunted the Pumas pack backwards after Argentina opted for an attacking scrum rather than a kick at goal. The navy shirts grew in stature from that moment on and ended the match much the better side.

The Scots betrayed some nerves with an error-strewn start and found themselves five points adrift after a matter of minutes. Max Evans carried the ball deep into the Argentine half but the Pumas pilfered it at the breakdown and quickly turned defence into attack.

Instead of kicking the ball aimlessly downfield, fly-half Felipe Contepomi picked out left winger Horacio Agulla with a long pass. Agulla made good ground before returning the pass and Contepomi then fed centre Gonzalo Tiesi, who beat Sean Lamont to the line with something to spare.

It was an ominous start and even more worrying for the Scots was a set scrum that the Pumas marched backwards a little later. Up went the Scots front row, and Contepomi, having missed the conversion, made no mistake with this 14th-minute penalty.

The Scots were hanging on by their fingernails and struggling to come to terms with the brute physicality of the Pumas. Parks had already got off the mark with an early penalty and he kicked another to keep the visitors in the hunt but Argentina scored their second try on the half hour mark.

Contepomi dinked an inch-perfect cross-field kick to Agulla, the winger found the imposing bulk of Leguizamon inside him and the flanker bulldozed his way past Evans to stretch out a long arm and just catch enough of the whitewash to satisfy the television match official, Santiago Slinger.

The Scots were attacking with pace and purpose but their finishing let them down. Parks threw a pass behind Hugo Southwell with an overlap begging. Sean Lamont headed for the right-hand corner but he was thwarted by the cover defence first up and by Senor Slinger the second time. Parks was launching big forwards into the Pumas' midfield with a series of wide, flat passes while some of the offloads from the big men were superb but the Argentine defence is not easily unlocked.

Eventually the Scots got some help from the referee who had already warned Contepomi about his side's constant infringements and finally sent try-scorer Leguizamon to the sin bin just before the break.

The Scots caught the faintest scent of hope in the Tucuman air. A man to the good, the Scottish scrum was suddenly rock solid, Lamont went close to the left-hand corner and Parks snatched a sneaky drop goal with the last kick of the half. Having been all but down and out, the visitors were trailing by just one point at the break, and the wind continued at their backs in the second half which they increasingly dominated after getting their noses in front for the first time in the match on 52 minutes when Parks kicked his fourth penalty.

The Pumas won a penalty five metres from the Scotland line on the 55 minute mark, but they opted for a scrum and found themselves marched backwards. The boot was suddenly on the other foot and Nick De Luca underlined the point by poleaxing Satiago Fernandez with a tackle that left the centre gasping on the ground for several minutes.

With the Scots on the front foot, Parks delivered the coup de grace with a penalty and a drop goal in the final ten minutes to ensure that Scotland are the first visiting international team to ever win a Test in Tucuman.

Argentina: M Rodriguez; L Borges (L Amorosino 48 min), G Tiesi, S Fernandez, H Agulla; F Contepomi (capt), A Lalanne; R Roncero, M Ledesma, M Scelzo (M Ayerza 45 min), M Carizza (M Galarza 60 min), P Albacete, JM Leguizamon, JM Fernandez Lobbe.

Scotland: H Southwell; M Evans, N De Luca, G Morrison, S Lamont; D Parks, R Lawson (M Blair 55 min); A Jacobsen, R Ford (S LAwson 74 min) M Low, J Hamilton, A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie (A Strokosch 70 min).

Scorers: Argentina – Tries: Tiesi, Leguizamon. Pens: Contepomi (2) Scotland – Pens: Parks (6) Drop goals: Parks (2)

Referee: D Pearson (RFU).

HOW THE SCOTS RATED IN TUCUMAN

15 Hugo Southwell 7

Solid in defence and pleasingly got up into the attack on numerous occasions.

14 Max Evans 7

Robbed of a try-saving tackle by a the TMO. But otherwise superb in tackles.

13 Nick De Luca 8

One brilliant first-half tap tackle saved a certain score and he made plenty yards in offence. Superb.

12 Graeme Morrison 8

Solid as a rock in centre partnership, and also made hard yards. Also superb.

11 Sean Lamont 7

Unlucky to see "try" disallowed. At least TMO called that one right. No chance with Argentina's opener. Fine game in defence.

10 Dan Parks 9

Shaky start, but tigerish tackler and eventually came on to another match-winning game, kicking almost everything. The man just continues to amaze.

9 Rory Lawson 7

One glaring error when Scotland were awarded a penalty and he knocked on, but otherwise very sound match and worked well with Parks.

1 Allan Jacobsen 9

Possibly his best game for Scotland. Chunk weathered the early scrum storm to best his tough opponent and his loose play was wonderful.

2 Ross Ford 8

One or two errors but lineout throwing pretty sound and he made his bulk count.

3 Moray Low 8

Like Jacobsen, he took early punishment but came good in the scrum when it counted and put himself about the field.

4 Jim Hamilton 8

Another forward who was excellent. Did everything he had to do really well.

5 Al Kellock 8

Captain's role played to perfection. Must keep job.

6 Kelly Brown 9

Just a magnificent all-round performance in grand pack.

7 John Barclay 8

Tackled like thunder and made the yards, part of a fabulous back row.

8 Johnnie Beattie 8

Developing into a world class number eight. Brilliant.

MARTIN HANNAN