Gregor Townsend’s Scotland in troubled waters after Argentina collapse

Argentina looked a pale imitation of the side that walloped Wales in record-breaking fashion in Cardiff and Scotland were in complete control for the first 50 minutes.

They constructed three excellent tries, two from Ewan Ashman and one from Jack Dempsey.

At 21-0 up, they were camped on the Argentina line, looking to go for the jugular. But, as has been the case far too many times, rather than landing the killer blow, Scotland extended a hand to help their opponents off the canvas.

Finn Russell’s unnecessary long looping pass was picked off, the Pumas broke downfield, Blair Kinghorn was sent to the bin for illegally halting the attack and Julian Montoya went over to breath new life into what had seemed a moribund contest.

The great teams, the best teams in the world, manage these moments. They take the sting out the game. Scotland are not built like that. They lack the nous, the game understanding, the mentality to squeeze the life out of a match that should be firmly in their grasp.

It was reminiscent of Cardiff and the 2024 Six Nations, when Scotland raced into a 27-0 lead and looked for all the world like they were on course for a romp to victory until the slightest hint of resistance spread panic throughout the entire team.

On that day, they managed to pull themselves back from the edge of the cliff to win by a point, but the Pumas were in no mood to let them off the hook here.

After Damien McKenzie climbed off the bench to break Scottish hearts against the All Blacks last week, another substitute entered the fray in the second half to steal the show.

Santiago Carreras was like a man possessed, popping up in every attack, finding gaps in a tiring Scottish defence and inspiring his team to move through the gears.

Julian Montoya’s try was the first of four in an astonishing 18-minute spell in which the Scots completely capitulated. Russell’s penalty briefly stemmed the flow to make it 24-12, but the wind was at Argentina’s backs and Scotland looked powerless to wrestle back the momentum.