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Most of the build up to this game has surrounded Scotland’s Euan Murray and how his religious beliefs mean that he is unavailable due to the fixture taking place on a Sunday. The full gravitas has been somewhat lost in the mêlée of Murray’s publicity, if Scotland win impressively they could arguably be made favourites to top Pool B by beating England in their last Pool match on the first of October. Argentina on the other hand need to win this game to keep their chances of qualifying for the Quarter Finals and possibly meet the All Blacks.
Scotland’s schedule has been the kinder so far and despite not playing anywhere near as well as head coach Andy Robinson would have wanted Scotland are second in the Pool with 9 points and this game in hand over Pool leaders England. They began the tournament with a late victory over Romania by a score of 34 â€" 24 and then in their second game they struggled to a 15 â€" 6 victory over Georgia in a game where both teams failed to score a try. With their first 2 games against the “minnows†of their Pool Scotland have been afforded the luxury of resting players whilst still recording 2 wins, for this game several players have been resting since the Romania game some 15 days ago.
The Scots looked to have named a very well rounded 22 for this game with their record points scorer Chris Paterson starting the game and the man currently 4thon the list of highest points scorers, Dan Parks named on the bench. Obviously Murray’s omission is a negative factor for the Scots with the Argentinian scrimmage being such a force but in Dr Geoff Cross they have a replacement who has found himself filling Murray’s shirt for religious reasons in the past, not least against France in the 6 Nations last year.
Argentina’s schedule has not been anywhere near as kind as Scotland’s and with their most important game against England coming first in the Pool stage they have been attempting to recover, both physically from the loss of centre Gonzalo Tiesi for the entire tournament and the loss of mercurial fly half Felipe Contepomi for their last Pool game against Romania and mentally after they contrived to miss 7 kicks in that game and end the game with a success rate of just 30%. Contepomi has recovered from his rib injury and will once again lead the team and the Pumas 43 â€" 8 defeat of the Romanian’s would indicate that the aberration of the 7 missed kicks. Argentina’s forward pack have been one of the most dominant since before the previous World Cup in 2007 and this is both their strength and their Achilles heel, while they will provide a stern test for the Scottish pack in the tight their average age of over 30 would suggest that they will not relish an open expansive game as much as the Scots, who have an average age of around 27.
If Scotland try to play a tight driving game and challenge the might of the Pumas forwards then they will struggle to not only win ball but also to retain their own ball and as England proved in the first Pool match Argentina can take on any team who don’t attempt to play at pace. The selection of Ruaridh Jackson at fly half signals the Scots intent to keep the ball in hand wherever possible and to play as open and free flowing game as they can, the loss of centre Joe Ansbro will be a blow to their ambitions, but in Sean Lamont and Graeme Morrison they still very effective ball carrying backs and if they can inject forwards like Richie Gray and John Barclay into the line they should be able to get over the gain line and threaten the Argentinian try line.
It should prove to be a close game and with Scotland not really playing well of late the bookmakers have them as 5-4 underdogs, but they are one spot above the Pumas in the IRB rankings, at 8th and tellingly the Scots have come out on top in 3 of their last 4 meetings. Scotland have also won 10 of their last 15 Test matches compared to Argentina’s record of 8 of their last 15. With Scotland guaranteeing a Quarter Final place with a win and keeping alive the chance of missing the All Black’s I think will cost a few bookmakers some money.
Blog By @Buck_Mitchell
Scotland’s schedule has been the kinder so far and despite not playing anywhere near as well as head coach Andy Robinson would have wanted Scotland are second in the Pool with 9 points and this game in hand over Pool leaders England. They began the tournament with a late victory over Romania by a score of 34 â€" 24 and then in their second game they struggled to a 15 â€" 6 victory over Georgia in a game where both teams failed to score a try. With their first 2 games against the “minnows†of their Pool Scotland have been afforded the luxury of resting players whilst still recording 2 wins, for this game several players have been resting since the Romania game some 15 days ago.
The Scots looked to have named a very well rounded 22 for this game with their record points scorer Chris Paterson starting the game and the man currently 4thon the list of highest points scorers, Dan Parks named on the bench. Obviously Murray’s omission is a negative factor for the Scots with the Argentinian scrimmage being such a force but in Dr Geoff Cross they have a replacement who has found himself filling Murray’s shirt for religious reasons in the past, not least against France in the 6 Nations last year.
Argentina’s schedule has not been anywhere near as kind as Scotland’s and with their most important game against England coming first in the Pool stage they have been attempting to recover, both physically from the loss of centre Gonzalo Tiesi for the entire tournament and the loss of mercurial fly half Felipe Contepomi for their last Pool game against Romania and mentally after they contrived to miss 7 kicks in that game and end the game with a success rate of just 30%. Contepomi has recovered from his rib injury and will once again lead the team and the Pumas 43 â€" 8 defeat of the Romanian’s would indicate that the aberration of the 7 missed kicks. Argentina’s forward pack have been one of the most dominant since before the previous World Cup in 2007 and this is both their strength and their Achilles heel, while they will provide a stern test for the Scottish pack in the tight their average age of over 30 would suggest that they will not relish an open expansive game as much as the Scots, who have an average age of around 27.
If Scotland try to play a tight driving game and challenge the might of the Pumas forwards then they will struggle to not only win ball but also to retain their own ball and as England proved in the first Pool match Argentina can take on any team who don’t attempt to play at pace. The selection of Ruaridh Jackson at fly half signals the Scots intent to keep the ball in hand wherever possible and to play as open and free flowing game as they can, the loss of centre Joe Ansbro will be a blow to their ambitions, but in Sean Lamont and Graeme Morrison they still very effective ball carrying backs and if they can inject forwards like Richie Gray and John Barclay into the line they should be able to get over the gain line and threaten the Argentinian try line.
It should prove to be a close game and with Scotland not really playing well of late the bookmakers have them as 5-4 underdogs, but they are one spot above the Pumas in the IRB rankings, at 8th and tellingly the Scots have come out on top in 3 of their last 4 meetings. Scotland have also won 10 of their last 15 Test matches compared to Argentina’s record of 8 of their last 15. With Scotland guaranteeing a Quarter Final place with a win and keeping alive the chance of missing the All Black’s I think will cost a few bookmakers some money.
Blog By @Buck_Mitchell
