Argentina give Cheika debut victory over Scotland

Australian Michael Cheika's tenure as Argentina coach got off to a perfect start on Saturday as the Pumas beat Scotland 26-18 in San Salvador de Jujuy, their first home match in almost three years.

Tries from Jeronimo de la Fuente and replacement Santiago Carreras in a dominant first half set the Pumas on their way.

But after Mark Bennett and Rory Hutchinson tries brought the tourists level, scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou won it with an opportunistic effort with a quarter of the match left.

"Of course, it was the first step, there were some parts of the game I liked and some that we need to work on," Cheika, 55, told ESPN.

"But like I said before the game, we need to do two jobs: work long term and try to do our best in the short term."

Cheika knew he would have his work cut out with a team that had lost eight of their last nine internationals, saying in midweek: "We know that on Saturday we will not be perfect."

But it was a Scotland side that had not lost to the Pumas since 2011, winning on five of their previous six visits to Argentina, who put in a poor first half showing.

"We didn't get going until the second half, and then we got into a position from which we should have kicked on, and didn't," a disappointed Scotland coach Gregor Townsend told Sky Sports.

After opposing fly-halves Nicolas Sanchez and Blair Kinghorn kicked a pair of penalties each, the hosts started to take control as Scotland looked hopelessly disjointed.

Center De la Fuente burrowed over from close range on the half hour mark despite scrum-half Ali Price's best efforts to hold him up over the line.

Winger Emiliano Boffelli, who took over kicking duties after Sanchez was forced off injured after 20 minutes and had already missed a penalty, dragged his