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Twitter this year. He is competing hard for that position,” he said. “We also have a couple of centres injured, Sam Johnson and Matt Scott, two guys who were in our initial squad. Peter Horne has done well in the three games and Alex Dunbar started the first one, carried well in the second one before going off in the second half.”

For all the changes to the line-up, the cap counts of only Hastings, Kinghorn and flanker Jamie Ritchie have not yet reached double figures and if last weekend demonstrated that Scotland still lag behind the very best in the world, this encounter with the Pumas should illustrate whether the overall strength in depth is all that the management hopes it now is, since there are also eight differences from the team that set out against Fiji.

Clearly it is too much to expect a repeat of that rout against relatively under-prepared opposition but for all the credit that has been given to new coach Mario Ledesma, they have won just two of their last 12 matches which suggests another solid win should be expected by such an experienced group of players.

Failure to do so would change the domestic climate substantially heading into a World Cup year, but a management team that has clearly seen this autumn as an important opportunity to scrutinise options as minutely as possible, continues to contend that it recognises the need to prioritise winning matches.

“Every selection has an unknown quality about it, but every selection is about putting a team out there that we believe gives us the best chance of winning,” said Townsend.

“If this had been a Six Nations game it might not have been the selection we put out there, but if they go well it could be the selection we put out there for a Six Nations game.

“November does give us an opportunity to look at different things, but we’re looking at different things because we believe they’ll work.”