Speaking after the match, Scotland U20 head coach Fergus Pringle talked about his charges determination and their high level of fitness.

“We put in a big shift today,” he said. “I think our conditioning showed in that last 20 minutes of the game; I thought we finished the game strong, and I thought we started it well. I think this gave us a bit of belief, and starting well I knew was going to be important.

“We managed to keep it going. We had a few spells there where we knew we weren’t in control, but the boys dug in and then fought back every time we had to. There were two or three momentum shifts in the game, I guess.”

Asked if it was Scotland pressure or their own mistakes that put Argentina off their stride, Pringle suggested: “Probably a bit of a combination, to be honest. A combination of our boys getting off the line and putting them under pressure and forcing mistakes, and  probably a few unforced errors from them as well”.

Scotland gave early notice of their scrummaging power, eking out two penalties from the set-piece as the Scots’ front-row exerted their strength. Then, from a tap-penalty, skipper Joe Roberts was stopped just short of the line but at the next phase Ollie Blyth-Lafferty bulldozed over from close range for a try under the posts, leaving Jake Dalziel with an easy conversion kick.

Los Pumitas tried to reply only to knock on from a tap penalty within range of the Scotland line. Argentina, however, were not to be deflected in their quest for points, launching waves of attacks, but all of them met by determined Scottish tackling.

Then, when the talented Argentina stand-off Manuel Giannantonio knocked on with a route to the try-line apparent, it was another set-back for Los Pumitas. Matters became worse for Argentina when their livewire scrum half Benjamin Ledesmas was carded for offside after his team had been warned about giving away an excess of penalties.

From the resulting kick to the corner, Scotland’s forwards drove the line-out allowing Roberts to explode from the moving melee to score his side’s second try, Dalziel again supplying the full tariff for a 14-0 lead.

Argentina responded with a powerful maul which was taken down by the Scots leaving Welsh referee Ben Connor with no choice but to award a penalty-try and send Dan Halkon to the sin-bin as the indentified perpetrator of the collapse.

Scotland, however, maintained their attacking mode and from a driven maul, Hamish MacArthur, playing inspirationally in his first game this tournament, broke to the blindside before supplying the scoring pass to Nairn Moncrieff for the ex-Gala man to score in the corner, putting his side 19-7 ahead.

Then, when Los Pumitas hooker Nicolas Cambiasso was yellow-carded for another team offence, Dalziel kicked to the corner to set up a five meter line-out. It looked as though the Scots would score again from the maul but a spilled ball saved the day for Argentina.

Scotland had a final chance just before the break to add further points by using their backs intelligently only for a knock-on to put a check on their points pursuit but nevertheless the Scots still held a healthy 19-7 lead going into the interval.

Argentina soon showed their determination to make up for lost ground in the first half and looked threatening when their backs moved the ball following a bullocking run by Los Pumitas’ solid No 8, Federico Torre, but a breakdown in midfield handling and a huge kick out of defence by Dalziel gave the Scots a timely reprieve.

Scotland then showed their skills with ball in hand and when Roberts was high-tackled five meters from their opponents try-line it was another penalty for the Scots. Dalziel kicked to the corner and from the resultant line-out Archie Appleby rose high before dropping the ball into the hands of MacArthur who had enough room to scamper over for his side’s fourth try.

Argentina hit back with a darting run from Ledesma, triggering a period of excellent handling before stand-off Giannantonio executed a clever kick pass to wing Bautista Lescano, who took the ball in full flight to glide over for an unconverted try.

Scotland came desperately close to scoring a fifth try when Rory McHaffie chased his own kick upfield only to lose possession just short of the Argentina line. In the event, the referee ruled that McHaffie had hurdled a tackler at the start of his run and awarded a penalty to Argentina in the Scotland 22.

Los Pumitas then quickly turned field position into points through their powerful centre Pedro Coll, who forced his way over for a converted try to bring Argentina to within five points of the Scots tally.

The pendulum then swung again and not for the first time in the game it was the maul that provided points, the Scots deploying what has become a potent weapon over 20 metres towards the Argentina line to create a second try for Roberts.

Scotland, sensing a momentum swing, moved into attack mode once again with some delightful handling and clever kicking which ended with Dan Kelly linking with Asa Stewart Harris. The replacement scrum-half was stopped short of the line but Argentina had strayed offside allowing the Scots to take a tap from which replacement prop Jamie Stewart showed his courage and strength to burrow over for a decisive score converted by  Dalziel.

Then, when Christian Lindsay made a 50 metre run up the right flank, Argentina were forced to give away another penalty to prevent a score. Again Scotland kicked to the corner, before setting up the maul that ended with the hard working Harvey Preston claiming a try and Dalziel converting for a 41-19 lead.

Los Pumitas, staged a late rally which showed what might have been, with a converted try by centre Ramon Fernandez. Scotland replied with what seemed a freak pin-ball try by Henry Kesterton, but it was chalked off after a review. Then, in the last play, Argentina gave away a penalty allowing the unflappable Dalziel to sign off a famous victory with a penalty kick on the stroke of full time.

 

Teams –

Argentina: S Pfister; B Lescano, R Fernandez, P Coll, J Daireaux (J Preumayr 64); M Giannantonio (F Laporte 59), A Ledesma; F Cebron (L Valle 49), N Cambiasso (M Cuneo Camargo 64), B Salinas Mallea (F Narvaez 66), J Pacual Viale, F Hygonenq (J Annand 64), T Dande, B Canas, F Torre (F Marizza 44)

Scotland: R McHaffie; D Kelly, H Kesterton, A Bryden (H Soboil 67), N Moncrieff (E Caven 67); J Dalziel, H MacArthur (A Stewart Harris 50); W Pearce (J Stewart 50), J Roberts (J Utterson ), O Blyth-Lafferty (J Rennie 67), C Lindsay, D Halkon, S Byrd (A  Appleby 15 (F Mather 59)), H Preston, O Finlayson-Russell (J Utterson 50).

Referee: Ben Connor (WRU)

 

Scorers –

Argentina: Tries: Penalty Try, Lescano, Coll, Fernandez; Cons: Laporte 2.

Scotland: Tries: Blyth-Lafferty, Roberts 2, Moncrieff, MacArthur, Stewart, Preston; Cons: Dalziel 3; Pen: Dalziel.

Scoring sequence (Argentina first): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 0-14; 5-14; 7-14; 7-19 (h-t) 7-24; 12-24; 17-24; 19-24; 19-29;  19-34; 19-39; 19-41; 24-41; 26-41; 26-44.

 

Yellow cards –

Argentina: Arocena (22 mins), Cambiasso (36 mins), Coll (69 mins), 

Scotland: Halkon (27 mins)