Scots hammer Argentina by record score to restore pride

Scotland left Argentina with their pride restored after dismantling the home side in an all-action first half and consolidating their lead in heavy rain in Resistencia.

They broke the Argentina line at will for long periods as they banished memories of last week’s defeat in the United States. All Gregor Townsend’s gambles paid off, with novice half-backs Adam Hastings and George Horne masterminding the attack and 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 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 found Blair Kinghorn to take the scoring pass.

The Scots soon 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.

Scotland’s the forwards then pummelled the line until flanker Magnus Bradbury went over, and Peter Horne’s conversion broke Scotland’s record score in Argentina, beating the 26 they managed in 2008.

A scintillating first half came to a close when a chip-kick from George Horne – with a penalty coming anyway – was tipped back into his hands by Hastings for Scotland’s fifth try.

In the second half Scotland conceded tries by Tomas Lezana and Matias Orlando, but in between claimed their sixth try as a huge cut-out pass from Stuart Hogg put Dougie Fife over for his second try of the tour.

Scores 0-5 G Horne try; 0-7 P Horne con; 0-12 Kinghorn try; 0-14 P Horne con; 0-19 McInally try; 0-21 P Horne con; 3-21 Sanchez pen; 3-26 Bradbury try; 3-28 P Horne con; 3-31 P Horne pen; 3-36 G Horne try; 8-36 Lezana try; 10-36 Sanchez con; 10-41 Fife try; 15-41 Orlando try; 15-44 P Horne pen. Argentina E Boffelli; B Delguy, M Orlando, B Ezcurra, S Cancelliere; N Sanchez, M Landajo; JM Diaz, A Creevy, N Tetaz Chaparro, G Petti Pagadizaval, M Alemanno, T Lezana, P Matera, L Senatore. Replacements J Montoya, S Garcia Botta, S Medrano, M Kremer, T Lavanini, G Bertranou, S Gonzalez Iglesias, J Cruz Mallia. Scotland S Hogg; D Fife, N Grigg, P Horne, B Kinghorn; A Hastings, G Horne; A Dell, S McInally, S Berghan, T Swinson, G Gilchrist, M Bradbury, F Brown, D Denton. Replacements G Turner, J Bhatti, Z Fagerson, B Toolis, J Ritchie, S Hidalgo-Clyne, J Lang, C Harris. Referee Mathieu Raynal (France).