Scots to ‘come out firing’,

Centre expects response in clash with Argentina

players that, if they could get that width, good things would happen, and we got two or three line breaks from similar plays in the second half that just didn’t end in tries.”

Nonetheless he will look to switch around bodies for Argentina, who lost in Paris on Saturday night.

“There will be some tired bodies,” added Townsend. “For players who have played three games, they will be tired, and November does give us an opportunity to test our depth.

“But Argentina are a really good side, so we need to pick a team able to give us a chance.

“There are obviously parts of our game we need to improve, but some of it is relevant to (South Africa), who we won’t face again very soon. We won’t play against a team with that line speed and that forward pack in the Six Nations.

“What we have to do is make sure that what we’re learning in today’s game is relevant to beating Argentina.”

And Scotland will continue to play a wide game, he stressed.

“We have to play to our strengths, and they are players like Huw Jones, Tommy Seymour, Sean Maitland, Stuart Hogg.

“If we play conservatively, they’re not going to get on the ball. We have to create ways to get them on the ball, but that isn’t just passing, it’s creating the counter-attack through kicking.

“That’s the way we’re playing. Because we know it will bring us success if we’re accurate and we improve on these days, getting better and better.”

Stuart Hogg went off with an ankle problem, but it isn’t the same one that required surgery prior to the Autumn Tests and the move was precautionary, added Townsend.

Scottish trickery seemed to be the way through South Africa’s punishing defence in the first half, but they provided a couple of gifts to let the Springboks get a narrow half-time advantage.

Scotland had repelled South Africa’s first possession impressively, but the second found Handre Pollard on halfway picking an inside line past a flailing Ryan Wilson, scrum-half Embrose Papier carried on with RG Snyman in support, and when the visitors swiftly recycled Jesse Kriel got so low there was no chance of stopping him at close range, Pollard converting with less than six minutes played.

That was a sobering moment for the Scots and they were fortunate to survive when the last in a series of ill-advised kicks by Russell allowed Willie le Roux and Sbu Nkosi to counter, the Scots scrambling under their own posts and grateful that Steven Kitshoff went in from the side for a cheap penalty.

Scotland didn’t seem to be making much impact in attack until two bits of genius from Jones in a three-man break got them going forward in devastating fashion.

Horne led out the attack and Jones’ flick out the back to Sean Maitland got the wing away. The centre stayed alive to be in support of his wing and he flicked another peach of a pass out the back to Horne, who finished having started it all.

However, the Scots tried to be far too clever with the restart, Russell caught