David sole

HARD HITTING VIEW Having lost to Wales and South Africa, it was very important that Gregor Townsend’s Scotland concluded their autumn campaign with a victory – ideally one that was comprehensive, so they could start to prepare for the Six Nations with confidence high.

While conditions at Murrayfield did not lend themselves to a thrilling game of running rugby, Scotland ground out a narrow victory which was far from assured.

Had Argentina had a reliable goalkicker, the outcome would have been very different.

As a player, Townsend was never riskaverse. He would try things that only he could imagine would work and when they did, they were acts of brilliance.

When they didn’t work, they looked like the calamitous disasters of a novice.

It appears that he is bringing that philosophy to his selection policies as a coach and his choice of combinations had great potential if they came off – but if they didn’t work they could bring the downfall of the team.

The grey clouds over Murrayfield weren’t going to act in favour of these selections and the pacy back three of Maitland, Kinghorn and Hogg were rarely given any space to counter-attack from Argentina’s high balls.

On another day, they could be devastating and hopefully the experiment will be repeated in the Six Nations.

The other experiment was in the midfield, where Hastings and Russell combined.

‘ Scotland ground out a narrow victory which was far from assured

I expected them to be relatively interchangeable which could have created some confusion in the defence, but this was not the case.

Hastings still has a lot to learn about game management and executing under pressure. When Russell returned to his preferred position in the closing stages of the match, a semblance of order seemed to return, particularly as Alex Dunbar made his presence felt immediately.

It was a day for defences, and Scotland’s was tested to the limit.

That they not only held firm resolutely, but also forced turnovers, errors and penalties is testament to their work rate and persistence.

Had Argentina made fewer mistakes then they would more than likely have won the match as they created plenty of opportunities to score tries and dominated possession for most of the match.

Scotland’s tenacity, however, was not to be underestimated and it is a quality that will serve them well in tight matches to come, as they surely will in the next 12 months or so.

The autumn series has left Townsend with a few problems and issues to work on before the next campaign begins in February.

He has tested the strength and depth of his squad, almost to the limit and he will know more about the character of his players as a result.

It’s been an “OK” autumn, but there is definitely more to come from this group.