Daniel Hourcade’s last match in charge of Argentina ended in an awful defeat as Scotland claimed a dominant 44-15 triumph in Resistencia.
Los Pumas were embarrassing in the opening period and conceded three tries early on through George Horne, Blair Kinghorn and Stuart McInally.
Although Nicolas Sanchez’s penalty gave Hourcade’s outfit brief respite, Magnus Bradbury’s score added to the frustration for the hosts.
Gregor Townsend’s men were producing an outstanding response to their shock defeat to the USA the previous week and led 36-3 at the interval following Pete Horne’s three-pointer and his brother’s second try.
Argentina were slightly better in the second half, touching down via Tomas Lezana and Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, but Dougie Fife’s effort and Horne’s penalty ended another painful 80 minutes for Hourcade.
It was not exactly a fitting send-off for the man that took them to a World Cup semi-final in 2015 as the visitors ripped through the Argentinian defence.
The hosts were constantly exposed and Townsend’s changes were clinical when the opportunities presented themselves. Scotland manipulated the opposition rearguard superbly and a break from Adam Hastings resulted in George Horne going over.
Nick Grigg then took a similarly direct route and showed excellent patience to draw the cover defence and give Kinghorn an easy finish. For the second time in the match, Pete Horne converted and then added a third two-pointer when McInally bounced off another poor tackle to cross the whitewash.
It was all too easy for the away side as, despite Sanchez reducing the arrears from the tee, the Six Nations outfit scored a fourth try via Bradbury’s close-range effort.
Scotland were unrelenting in the first half, going 28 points ahead via Horne’s penalty, before brother George collected his brace for a comfortable 36-3 buffer at the interval.
The visitors struggled to build on that performance in the second period and often needlessly overplayed. It led to a series of errors and Argentina benefited, reducing the arrears through Lezana, who barged his way over.
Townsend’s men quickly regained their composure, however, and Fife touched down after an impressive Stuart Hogg pass.
Los Pumas responded when Gonzalez Iglesias displayed excellent power to cross the whitewash but Scotland had the final word as Horne kicked a penalty.
The scorers:
For Argentina:
Tries: Lezana, Gonzalez Iglesias
Con: Sanchez
Pen: Sanchez
For Scotland:
Tries: G Horne 2, Kinghorn, McInally, Bradbury, Fife
Cons: P Horne 4
Pens: P Horne 2
Argentina: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 11 Sebastian Cancelliere, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Tomas Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Javier Diaz
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Juan Cruz Mallia
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 David Denton, 7 Fraser Brown, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 James Lang, 23 Chris Harris
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
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