Pumas claw back to beat Scotland with second-half romp

EDINBURGH :Argentina scored five unanswered tries in a devastating 20-minute second-half spell to come from 21-0 down to beat Scotland 33-24 at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Scotland had been cruising towards a comfortable home win after scoring three tries in the opening 44 minutes but five changes off the bench by Argentina altered the outcome in a spectacular turnaround.

Captain Julian Montoya, Rodrigo Isgro, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera and Justo Piccardo all scored for Argentina after Scotland had gone ahead via Jack Dempsey and two tries for Ewan Ashman.

Santiago Carreras converted four of the five Pumas tries while Finn Russell put over a penalty and three conversions for the home side.

The contrast in performance from one half to the next was stark as Scotland started strongly and scored their first try after 13 minutes with Dempsey sprinting through the defences.

Darcy Graham’s catch of a high kick set up Scotland’s second try in the 28th minute, scored by Ashman with a burst over the line from close in after several phases of attack.

Ashman then again displayed his strength four minutes into the second half as he powered over for Scotland’s third try. It came after he had initiated a counter from Argentina’s failure to find touch with a clearing penalty from deep in their own half.

Down 21-0, Argentina brought on five substitutes at the same time in the 45th minute to freshen up a listless-looking line-up, but it was a loose pass from Russell that gifted them their opportunity to launch a sensational comeback.

ARGENTINA TAKE 55 MINUTES TO SCORE FIRST POINTS

Isgro intercepted and broke away, forcing Scotland to scramble their defence, give away a penalty and see Blair Kinghorn sent to the sin-bin. Argentina took a scrum instead