Scotland v Argentina: Match Preview

Scotland will line up against Los Pumas on Saturday at BT Murrayfield (kick off 3.15pm) - live on Prime Video.

Both teams will have a point to prove after painful losses last week. They have taken each other on three times this year, in a summer tour that Argentina won two games to one. However, Scotland have won each of their last three home games against the Pumas.

Overall, Argentina have won 11 of their 21 encounters. Can Scotland even up the numbers this Saturday?

How they line up

With Hamish Watson injured, Jack Dempsey earns a place in the starting XV at number eight while Matt Fagerson moves to the blindside and captain Jamie Ritchie takes over the openside. Jonny Gray replaces his brother as a starting lock, and Glen Young and Cameron Redpath reclaim a place in the matchday 23.

What they said

Captain Jamie Ritchie is ready to bounce back from a loss against the All Blacks: “We’re confident that we can blow Argentina away.”

Gregor Townsend added “Disappointment has to fuel them, what we did has to motivate that we can deliver a better performance next week.”

Scotland's form

  • Stats
    • Scotland have slipped down to ninth in the world rankings after a mixed year with several very narrow losses.
    • Fullback Stuart Hogg is one of three players to have made four offloads during this year’s Autumn Nations Series, while his tally of three break assist passes has been bettered only by Fiji’s Setariki Tuicuvu with four. Finn Russell follows closely with two break assist passes in just one game.
    • Duhan van der Merwe has beaten 14 defenders in the Autumn Nations Series this year, more than any other player, while teammate Darcy Graham has beaten the second most (12); the duo are also two of just three players to carry for 200+ metres during the series, along with Australia’s Tom Wright (246, Duhan van der Merwe – 233, Darcy Graham – 212).
  • Scotland 14-15 Australia

    Scotland came out one point the worse in a scrappy game where both teams appeared rusty. Blair Kinghorn’s great try showed off his pace, vision and footballing skills but his missed last minute penalty broke Scottish hearts.

  • Scotland 28-12 Fiji

    While not their strongest showing, Scotland ground out a win. They also out-offloaded the team perhaps most known for offloads, with seven to Fiji’s six. Two of these came from back row Jack Dempsey.

  • Scotland 23-31 New Zealand

    Scotland were winning at half time and kept the All Blacks scoreless for over 50 minutes which is no mean feat. However, they struggled to capitalise on opportunities, with the ball being agonisingly close to the All Blacks line three times without going over, and they couldn’t take the win.

  • Watch all Scotland's tries so far

Argentina's form

  • Stats
    • Argentina are sixth in world rankings in a year where they have beaten Scotland twice, beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand for only the second time, and started their Autumn Nations Series with a shock win over England at Twickenham.
    • Michael Cheika’s team have won just one of their last five Test matches (L4) and lost their most recent after winning three in four previously, however, they have conceded just two tries in each of their last two Tests after conceding 5+ in each of their previous three.
    • Argentina have alternated between wins and losses in each of their last six Test matches played in Europe (W3 L3), however, they have not lost from a winning position at half-time in Europe since the 2015 Rugby World Cup, when they succumbed to New Zealand (16-26).
  • England 29-30 Argentina

    Boffelli’s kicking game was crucial as Argentina came back from 16-12 at halftime to edge this game. He made 7 out of 8 kicks and scored one try, earning 25 points to allow Argentinaa win with just 38.1% possession.

  • Wales 20-13 Argentina

    Simply put, Wales outplayed Argentina to get the win. Boffelli had 100% accuracy but only three opportunities at the kicking tee and the tactical kicking in-game just wasn’t strong enough.

Summer Tests

  • Argentina 26-18 Scotland

    Argentina gained their first win over Scotland in 11 years in this first match of the series.

  • Argentina 6-29 Scotland

    Scotland scored 21 unanswered points to come out with a commanding victory in the second test.

  • Argentina 34-31 Scotland

    While Scotland arguably played their best game of the tour, Boffelli’s last minute try sealed their fate for this summer series.

Autumn Nations Series Stats

Carries and passes

  • Scotland have beaten the most defenders (74) and made the second-most line breaks of any side in this year’s Autumn Nations Series (14), only behind Italy (15), while no side has made fewer line breaks in this year’s series than Argentina (3).
  • Pierre Schoeman has made the third most carries of any player this Autumn Nations Series with 24, closely followed by Darcy Graham with 23 and Pablo Matera with 22.
  • Ali Price has made most passes with 133, and has the fourth best passing accuracy, 98.5% Bertranou has made the fifth most with 87, at 96.6% accuracy.

 

Lineouts

  • Scotland’s Richie Gray has won the most lineouts of any player in the Autumn Nations Series this year (18) while Argentina’s Matias Alemanno has won the third most with 14. Gilchrist has won 12 and Gonzales rounds out the top ten with 8.
  • Gray and Alemanno are two of just four players to have recorded a series-high two lineout steals this autumn. Gilchrist, Cherry and Ashman have stolen one each.

Kicks

  • Argentina’s Santiago Carreras (27) and Scotland’s Ali Price (25) have made the most and second most kicks respectively of any players in this year’s Autumn Nations Series (27).
  • Carreras has gained the most kicking metres in total this autumn (961). Price is third with 599, and Hogg sixth with 495.
  • Ali Price has recorded the most kicking metres per 80 minutes of any player (260).
  • Hogg has the third most metres per kick with 45.0.
  • When it comes to the posts, Boffelli has made 10 kicks from 11, meaning he has the third most kicks made and fourth best kicking percentage at 90.9%.

Tackles and turnovers

  • Matt Fagerson has made the most tackles of any player with 48. Gilchrist has made 38, Jamie Ritchie 32, Marcos Kremer 30, and Pierre Schoeman the tenth most of any player with 29.
  • Five of Kremer’s tackles were dominant, making him joint top in this category. Jack Dempsey has made three dominant tackles.
  • Richie Gray, Jack Dempsey and Pierre Schoeman all have 100% tackle success rate.
  • Jamie Ritchie has made the second most turnovers with four. Richie Gray, Dempsey, Alemanno and Schoeman come in at joint sixth with two each.

Discipline

  • Jamie Ritchie is has conceded the second most penalties of anyone with five and Francisco Gomez Kodela follows up with four.
  • Four Scotland players, Dempsey, Hogg, Young, and Graham have been awarded yellow cards, while Argentina have had none throughout the series.

 

The war of the wingers

Both teams have had a standout player on the wing this Autumn Nations Series, in Edinburgh Rugby players Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli.

Darcy is the pocket rocket who proves that size isn’t everything, and Boff racks up points with impressive stats from the kicking tee. Both players have been nominated for Try of the Round this Autumn Nations Series, Boffelli against England and Graham v the All Blacks. While Darcy won Player of the Match for a gutsy performance against a very physical Fiji, Boff was awarded Player of the Round after his 25 points against England. He has also scored the third most points of any player this Autumn Nations Series with 33 (8 penalties, 2 conversions and 1 try). Let’s see how they match up:

Darcy Graham Emiliano Boffelli
Age 25 27
Height 1.77m (5ft9) 1.91m (6ft3)
Weight 84kg (13st3) 91kg (14st5)
Tries for Edinburgh Rugby 30 9
Points for Edinburgh Rugby 150 195
Appearances for Edinburgh Rugby 55 21
Tries for their country 13 21
Points for their country 65 231
Caps for their country 32 48