Scotland returned to the victory trail when they claimed a 14-9 triumph over Argentina in their November Test at Murrayfield on Saturday.
In a tightly contested encounter, the home side had to dig deep to secure their win but they eventually took control of proceedings and outscored the Pumas by one try to none.
Both sides were guilty of committing numerous mistakes but Argentina were the architects of their downfall as poor goalkicking — they missed four penalty attempts — led to their loss.
The opening exchanges were characterised by plenty of running and some unforced errors from both sides. Greig Laidlaw opened the scoring with a well-taken penalty in the fourth minute before Nicolas Sanchez had a chance to draw his side level five minutes later, but his shot at goal was wide of the mark.
The next 15 minutes was an arm wrestle as the sides tried to gain the upper hand but there was little interesting to report during that period.
In the 22nd minute, Emiliano Boffelli lined up a long range penalty, from just inside Scotland's half, but like Sanchez's earlier effort, his kick was also off target which meant Scotland were still clinging to their 3-0 lead.
The next 10 minutes saw the Pumas doing most of the attacking and they finally opened their account in the 28th minute when Sanchez landed a penalty after Adam Hastings was blown up for holding onto the ball on the ground.
Four minutes later, Scotland regained their three-point lead via another penalty from Laidlaw when Sanchez infringed at a breakdown. There was little to report during the rest of the half which petered out and Scotland went into the sheds at half-time with a slender 6-3 lead.
Argentina drew first blood in the second-half courtesy of another Sanchez penalty, two minutes after the restart, after Hastings went off his feet at a ruck. Five minutes later, Sanchez had a chance to give his side the lead for the first time but, once again, he failed to convert his penalty attempt.
That miss proved costly as Laidlaw put Scotland back in front when he added his third penalty in the 54th minute after Agustin Creevy punished for a high tackle on Huw Jones.
That kick gave Scotland some breathing space and they soon upped the ante on attack. And in the 64th minute, they were rewarded when Sean Maitland crossed for a deserved try after running onto a pass from Stuart Hogg inside the Pumas' 22.
Laidlaw's conversion attempt struck and upright before Sanchez lined up another shot at goal off the kicking tee, three minutes later, but he pulled his effort wide of the mark for the third time.
Three minutes later, Argentina won a scrum penalty deep inside Scotland's 22 and this time Sanchez was successful off the tee which meant his side were trailing by five points on the scoreboard.
Scotland finished stronger, however, and although Laidlaw also missed a penalty in the game's closing stages, they held on to clinch their fifth successive victory over the Pumas.
The scorers:
For Scotland:
Try: Maitland
Pens: Laidlaw 3
For Argentina:
Pens: 3
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Finn Russell, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Greg Laidlaw (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 George Horne, 22 Alex Dunbar, 23 Byron McGuigan
Argentina: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Augustin Creevy, 1 Santiago Garcia Botta
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Matias Orlando, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Dan Jones (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
As expected, the Azzurri were on the receiving end of a backlash as the All Blacks bounced back from their defeat to Ireland with a clinical performance. It was a completely one-sided affair as the world champions ran in 10 tries while they prevented their hosts from dotting down. Italy's discipline let them down as they conceded too many penalties, which the visitors duly capitalised on.
In an entertaining encounter, in which momentum between the teams ebbed and flowed, the Springboks' superior physicality played a big part in this victory especially in the second-half when the match was on a knife edge for long periods.
Argentina, meanwhile, have suffered their fourth successive defeat and will be desperate to reverse their downward spiral, just as France did here.
In a match billed as being the game of the November series, it was a brutal encounter, but the scoring was left to the respective kickers in the first half – Johnny Sexton and Beauden Barrett – as they traded a brace of three-pointers in the opening half-an-hour.
The visitors were outstanding in the opening 40 minutes, deservedly going into the break ahead thanks to Ryoto Nakamura and Michael Leitch tries. In contrast, the Red Rose were slack and, despite Danny Care’s try and Elliot Daly’s penalty, the hosts struggled to control possession.
Tonga got themselves off to the worst possible start when they conceded a penalty try and a yellow card to Leva Fifita for bringing down a Wales' driving maul that had marched upfield in the second minute.
Despite outscoring the Azzurri by four tries to one, this was far from a convincing performance from Australia, who were on the back foot for long periods especially during the second-half.
In a tight Test, in which momentum between the sides ebbed and flowed, both sides scored two tries apiece but Mbonambi proved to be the match-winner when he dotted down off the back of a line-out drive deep inside France's 22.
It was a topsy-turvy contest and one where Los Pumas very much came to play. There was little in it at the interval, with Kieran Marmion and Bundee Aki going over for the hosts and Bautista Delguy responding for the Argentinians.
In an evenly contested and often dour encounter, both sides committed a plethora of unforced errors and as the scoreline suggests, neither managed to cross the whitewash.
Similar to the Owen Farrell incident last week, which cost South Africa a chance of winning the game, this time the hosts were denied when Sam Underhill thought he had scored, only for television match official Marius Jonker to rule it out.
The visitors started the game on the front foot. However, they emerged from their spell of dominance with only a Ben Volavola penalty kick to their name.
In a fast paced and exciting game, Italy were the dominant side for most of the match and eventually outscored their visitors by four tries to two with Tommaso Allan contributing 13 points courtesy of a try, two penalties and a conversion.
The Grand Slam champions and the number two side in the world controlled the match from beginning to end and are building up momentum at just the right time ahead of that crucial clash with the All Blacks on November 17.
England will have the psychological momentum going into the World Cup next year with this slender victory, safe in the knowledge they have emerged victorious on the previous two of the four meetings played between the sides this year.
Tries from George North and Jonathan Davies and the boot of Leigh Halfpenny, who kicked 11 points, saw Warren Gatland's outfit to victory.
A 10-try performance saw Dane Coles, Richie Mo'unga, Ngani Laumape (3), Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, George Bridge (2), Waisake Naholo and Matt Proctor cross the whitewash while fly-half Mo'unga also kicked 17 points off the tee, with Jordie Barrett adding the remaining conversion.
New Zealand though were scoring at will and Naholo's try, after an impressive carry from Gareth Evans, put their seventh try on the board.
Although Australia were aiming to repeat last year's Bledisloe Cup dead rubber win, New Zealand had other ideas and delivered a dominant display in which they outscored the Wallabies by five tries to two with Beauden Barrett leading the way with a 17-point haul courtesy of a try, three conversions and two penalties.
The visitors, who scored through Michael Hooper, Izack Rodda, Israel Folau, Dane Haylett-Petty (2) and David Pocock, avoid the wooden spoon, thus handing bottom spot to the Pumas, who will rue how they let slip that buffer at the Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena.
In a tightly contested match, the home side made a bright start and dominated the early exchanges but two Handré Pollard penalties were all they had to show for their efforts before the All Blacks struck back with two penalties of their own from Beauden Barrett, which meant the sides were level at 6-6 at half-time.
Once again, Pollard was successful off the kicking tee but the All Blacks responded shortly afterwards courtesy of an Aaron Smith try after Codie Taylor tore the home side's defence to shreds with a superb run in the build-up.