Scotland pip Argentina at the death

Scotland returned to winning ways when they claimed a hard-fought 19-16 victory over Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The result was in the balance right until the end when Greig Laidlaw secured victory for the home side via a penalty with the final act of this Test, after Juan Manuel Leguizamon was penalised for an illegal tackle on Ross Ford.

In a thrilling affair, which came to life in the second-half, the home side thought their chance of securing the win had gone begging when a 77th minute penalty attempt from Laidlaw struck and upright.

They did well to regain possession after that miss and after Leguizamon's indiscretion on defence, the Scotland captain held his nerve to seal a memorable win.

Momentum between the two sides ebbed and flowed throughout but it was Scotland who got the rub of the green in the end after both sides crossed for a try apiece.

From the kick-off, Argentina conceded a couple of penalties at the breakdown and Scotland took a 3-0 lead as early as the third minute when Laidlaw opened the scoring from the kicking tee.

The next 25 minutes was a war of attrition as both sides went at each other hammer and tongs in a bid to gain the ascendancy, but poor decision making meant that neither side could add to their points tally during this period.

Scotland eventually doubled their lead when Laidlaw added another penalty after los Pumas' forwards were penalised for illegal scrummaging.  Just before half-time, Nicolás Sánchez slotted a penalty which meant Scotland held a slender 6-3 lead at half-time.

Sánchez added another penalty five minutes after the break and the visitors soon took the lead when Matías Orlando crossed for the opening try after gathering a cross-field kick from Juan Martín Hernández deep inside Scotland's 22.

Sánchez slotted the conversion which gave the visitors a 13-6 lead but Scotland didn't take that lying down though and struck back via a Sean Maitland try in the 54th minute.  This after Huw Jones displayed great determination and leg-drive in the build-up to shrug off a challenge from Orlando before offloading to Mailtand, who dived over in the right-hand corner.

Laidlaw showed his class as he landed the place-kick from close to the touchline, which meant the sides were deadlocked at 13-13.  Sánchez soon added another penalty which gave los Pumas a slender 16-13 lead but Laidlaw drew his side level again, with a 68th minute place kick, before sealing the win with his fourth penalty shortly before full-time.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Maitland
Con:  Laidlaw
Pens:  Laidlaw 4

For Argentina:
Try:  Orlando
Con:  Sánchez
Pens:  Sánchez 3

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 John Barclay, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements:  16 Ross Ford, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Ali Price, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Tim Visser

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Lucas Noguera
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Leonardo Senatore, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 23 Juan Pablo Estelles

Referee:  Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Thomas Charabas (France)
TMO:  Shaun Davey (England)