Townsend credits painful Pumas collapse for Scotland's scintillating 47-38 revenge in Córdoba

Scotland opened their Nations Championship campaign with a 47-38 victory over Argentina in Córdoba on Saturday, with head coach Gregor Townsend crediting last November’s painful home defeat to the same opponents as the catalyst for the team’s transformation.

The Scots were widely condemned after surrendering a 21-0 lead to lose 33-24 at Murrayfield in the autumn, but Townsend now views that result in a different light. “Now looking back, we’re very grateful for that defeat,” he said. “It was really painful at the time, to be in a winning position and then to disappoint your own crowd. But the week after I felt that we became a much better team, we had more honest conversations and then during the Six Nations we were more prepared for momentum swings in the game.”

Saturday’s win built on an encouraging Six Nations campaign that included victories over England and France, and came against an Argentina side ranked two places above Scotland in the world standings. Seven different players crossed the line — Sione Tuipulotu, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Hutchinson, Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, debutant Gregor Hiddleston and Kyle Rowe — to put Scotland 47-24 ahead before Argentina pulled two late scores back to close the gap to nine points.

“We came here to a team ranked fifth in the world and scored seven tries,” Townsend said. “On paper, there’s not much concerning with that. We didn’t sit back on a lead. I was so proud of some of the individual performances, but just the team too. We were tested today — Argentina dominated possession for the first 10 minutes, then in the second half they came right back into the game. We were able to change both scenarios around and really impose our game on them.”

Townsend acknowledged there were still areas to address, but struck an optimistic note. “Sometimes your biggest growth comes from adversity, from your most painful moments, and I’ve seen that with the team. Today was another step forward. I know there’s a lot more to come.”

The one concern from the evening was a calf injury suffered early in the match by prop Elliot Millar Mills. “I would reckon that that’s going to keep him out for the rest of the tour,” Townsend said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t, but he seemed in a fair bit of pain after the game.”

Scotland now travel to South Africa to face the Springboks in Pretoria next Saturday.