LATE, LATE SHOW RESCUES SCOTS
SCOTLAND made it three out of three wins under Vern Cotter after a late penalty from Duncan Weir under huge pressure took them to victory.
They should have won by even more but poor handling cost them dear and made them sweat up until the last minute when a drop goal from Nicolas Sanchez drifted wide.
Scotland had the better attack with Stuart Hogg, who scored a superb try and Tommy Seymour, who laid on Henry Pyrgos, the pick of a heroic side that managed to get over the line.
Six minutes into the first half, Scotland opened the scoring with a terrific try. Nick de Luca was at the heart of the move, playing a perfect pass to Tommy Seymour, who brushed aside a tackle from Manuel Montero near the touchline before releasing full-back Stuart Hogg to crash over.
It looked like he may have knocked the ball on but Irish referee John Lacey decided against going to the TMO and awarded the try.
The conversion, from Duncan Weir, gave Scotland an early sevenpoint lead and they nearly increased their advantage moments later.
A clever kick and chase up the line from Seymour was thwarted by an unlucky bounce of the ball that allowed Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino to gather and clear.
The Argentines got their first try when Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias kept the ball alive near the touchline under a challenge from Hogg. The Pumas expertly went through the phases before getting close enough to the Scotland line to spin the ball wide.
With the Scotland defence all over the place, flanker Javier Ortega Desio had the easiest of chances to score in the corner.
The home side then went into the lead for the first time when Sanchez put over a perfect drop goal with half an hour played.
Seymour, who had looked sharp from kick- off, nearly restored the tourists’ advantage but he knocked on when he went for an interception.
Sanchez failed with his second drop-goal attempt then Weir missed a relatively easily penalty with the last kick of the first half.
The second half got off to the worst possible start when Sanchez put over a penalty after Scotland were penalised at the breakdown.
But Scotland looked far sharper when Henry Pyrgos came on for Hart and they started to run a v ariety of good lines.
Although they couldn’t get over the whitewash, they were rewarded with three points from the boot of Weir when the Argentines were caught offside.
Their l ead only l asted a few minutes, however, when Sanchez put over yet another penalty after Rob Harley was penalised for being off his feet.
And Scotland fell further behind when poor t ackling al l owed Argentina to score a try.
Replacement Joaquin Tuculet left Blair Cowan for dead before shrugging off an attempted tackle from Hogg and crashing over as Maitland tried to stop him.
Scotland fancied their chances of scoring a try to the extent that captain Grant Gilchrist turned down two penalty chances in favour of kicking to the corner. Neither produced any scores, which was a huge frustration for his team.
When offered a third penalty with ten minutes left, Gilchrist took up the offer from the referee which allowed Weir to put over a long-range penalty to reduce the deficit.
It was just what Scotland needed and, with seven minutes left, Seymour burst up the line leaving the home defence for dead. The big winger managed to stay in play and picked out Pyrgos, who dived over to put Scotland one point behind.
Weir missed the vital kick but was given another opportunity, which he slotted — before Scotland watched Sanchez’ kick sail wide.