The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Former Howe star Horne grabs two tries as Scots rout Pumas in final tour match
Everything goes perfectly for Scotland as tour ends with demolition of hosts
Scotland left Argentina with their pride restored after hammering the home side in an all-action first half and consolidating their lead as the rain came down later in the game to run out 44-15 winners.
They cut the Argentina line at will for long periods of the game as they banished memories of last week’s defeat in the USA and ensured they ended their season on a high.
All of Gregor Townsend’s gambles paid off, with novice half-backs Adam Hastings and George Horne masterminding the attacking game, with the latter collecting two tries on his second cap to bring his total for the season to 12 in 22 appearances for club and country.
Scotland started the game perfectly, launching an attack deep into the opposition 22 before Hastings spotted a gap close to the ruck, broke through and found Horne inside to take the scoring pass.
With Peter Horne, George’s older brother, making it a family affair by adding the conversion, it was the perfect start for the visitors.
It was made even better six minutes later when Nick Grigg found a similar gap, cut through and this time found Blair Kinghorn in position to take the scoring pass.
The Scots added a straightforward third try as Stuart Mcinally celebrated his first game as Scotland captain by taking the ball directly from a maul and crashing through to give himself a 20-metre run-in.
Argentina were still up for the challenge, relying on their strong forwards and slick handling to get them into the Scotland 22 where a collapsed scrum handed fly-half Nicolas Sanchez the chance to put his side on the scoreboard.
Scotland hit back straight away, with an overthrown line-out handing them possession in the Pumas’ 22 and the forwards pummelling the line until flanker Magnus Bradbury managed to get there. Peter Horne’s conversion broke Scotland’s record score in Argentina, overtaking the 26 they managed in 2008.
With Peter then adding a penalty, Scotland were cruising, though they had to work hard to defend a line-out five metres out and a superb jinking dart from Argentina wing Emiliano Boffelli reminded them of the threat out wide.
A scintillating first half came to a close when a cheeky chip-kick from George Horne – with a penalty coming anyway – was tipped back into his hands by Hastings to give him Scotland’s fifth try and send the tourists into the break 36-3 in front.
As the replacements came into the game, the Pumas did register a try when
flanker Tomas Lezana pounced on a loose ball to power his way over.
Though the Scots did extend their lead through Peter Horne’s second penalty, there was more encouragement for the home fans when Santiago Gonzales Iglesias, newly on at centre, crashed through straight from a scrum.
In between, Scotland had claimed their sixth try as a huge cut-out pass from Stuart Hogg put Dougie Fife over for his second try of the tour, but the shape had really gone out of the game as both sides huffed and puffed to the end.
Two-try rookie George Horne shrugged off his feat and diverted the praise towards half-back mate Hastings.
Hastings, son of Scotland legend Gavin, played a big part in both touchdowns.
Former Howe of Fife player Horne said: “It was just great fun out there. We fronted up really well in the first half against a physical team and that really put us in a good position to control territory and possession for the remainder of the match.
“Adam was outstanding. He’s obviously a massive threat around the field. He made a lot of line breaks and I just managed to get beside him at the right times.
“We spoke a lot about last week and bouncing back from what was a really disappointing performance against USA. We did that OK, especially in that first 20 minutes.
“We had a lot of good defensive sets and that put the marker down for what would happen in attack.
“When we got the ball, we expressed ourselves. We weren’t shy even when the conditions got a bit poor and we scored some cracking tries.”
Horne said: “The likes of Adam and I are young and have a lot to learn, but it was a chance we wanted to take.”