SCOTLAND TALKING POINTS

Courier Sport looks at some of the talking points ahead of the series opener.

● Chance to restore positive vibe – Scotland went into this year’s Six Nations with high hopes of success after an impressive run of form in 2021.

However, they managed to win just two of their five matches and their campaign ended under a cloud when they were well beaten by Ireland on the same weekend it emerged a group of players had breached team protocol to go on a night out.

Gregor Townsend and his team could do with pulling off some positive results in Argentina as they bid to banish the post-Six Nations gloom and re-establish some positivity a little over a year from the World Cup.

● Big guns missing – Scotland must prove they can hold their own in a challenging environment without some of their top players. In the first Test, they will be missing four of the eight Scots who were on British & Irish Lions duty a year ago.

Captain Stuart Hogg, Chris Harris and Finn Russell have all been given the summer off to recuperate following busy schedules, while Hamish Watson is absent for this match with a minor injury. The meetings with Argentina, therefore, represent a test of Scotland’s squad depth.

● Can Kinghorn deliver at 10? – The absence of Russell allows Blair Kinghorn another chance to try to impress at flyhalf. Townsend is a big admirer of the 25-year-old Edinburgh player, who has reinvented himself as a number 10 over the past year or so. The next few weeks will give Kinghorn an opportunity to show whether he can be a genuine alternative.

● Familiar face in Argentina – Ranked one place beneath the Scots at eighth in the world rankings, Argentina are sure to provide stern opposition for the tourists.

They have won only one of their last nine matches, but all of their defeats in that period came against top-six nations: South Africa, France, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. The Pumas are likely to relish their first home matches for three years.

The Scots will encounter a familiar face in the Pumas ranks in the shape of Emiliano Boffelli, who was Edinburgh’s player of the year last year.