| Venue: Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh Date: Saturday, 19 November Kick-off: 15:15 GMT |
| Insurance: Live text commentary on BBC Sport website & app |
The final line. The international year ends on Saturday night with the Pumas hitting Murrayfield, after 12 Tests involving 53 Scottish players.
Or crawl into Murrayfield panting and wheezing. You might find 12 Tests in 10 Months daunting. If that is the case, then you can try 12 in five month. Argentina is right there.
They’ve done some chopping, changing personnel in between Tests, but not much. They have played most of the matches, and there are a few who have played all of them.
Emiliano Bisolelli, Edinburgh’s goal-kicker and try-scorer, is ready to take the stage. Boffelli’s boundless energy would leave the Duracell Bunny in tears and beg for mercy.
Boffelli had an extraordinary year. He was pivotal in defeating New Zealand in New Zealand during Rugby Championship.
Scotland’s 2022? It has been an eventful year. Jamie Ritchie is now the captain, a new chapter in Finn and Gregor melodrama, and a new Renaissance man.
Richie Gray was nearly retired at the beginning of the year. Even though he won’t still be here on Saturday, he’s storming back. Too much storming. He was too agitated to win against the All Blacks.
Gray’s arrival, Rory Darge’s emergence, and Darcy Graham’s ongoing transformation into the Scottish Cheslinkolbe have been the highs of a season that has seen too many lows. If 2020, 2021 and 2021 represented steady progress, 2022 was a brick wall.
Scotland must win against Argentina to show that they can still beat higher-ranked sides in the world rankings. The Pumas are now sixth. Scotland is currently at number nine.
These positions were reversed after the Six Nations game earlier in the year.
Remember February and England’s win? The days of innocence. Scotland won even though they didn’t play very well. It was a sign of a team that is improving. They saw the year as a huge runway of opportunities. This was the moment that would bring the championship to an end.
Then, Wales came in like a wet potato to the face. Then came the Edinburgh Six who invaded the town and the cringeworthy press conferences that followed. Then came the abolition of a series in Argentina, and the latest outbreak of the Finn-Gregor soap opera.
We were told by Finn Russell that he was now fourth-choice Fly-half. He explained why Ross Thompson (the rarely seen Glasgow number 10) was now considered to be ahead Russell. The Scottish rugby fan looked at coach Gregor Townsend as if he had two heads.
They lost a game against Fiji that they should have won. They won against Fiji, a match that was almost forgotten by anyone who had ever crossed the Water of Leith. Russell was out and then he was in. Another truce. Another defeat. Scotland could have defeated the All Blacks, but it didn’t.
It’s easy to talk about Scotland’s strength on paper, their potential and the areas of excellence they deliver. But it’s noise. Played 11, lost seven, won four. This is their reality. It’s deflating.
They will either end a turbulent year with some optimism and a decent finish, or they will be ending it on a bad note that will cause a lot of rancour about the direction the team is heading.
It gets more difficult from here. England (away), Wales, France (away), Ireland(home), Italy (home), and then onwards to their first game at the World Cup where they will be facing South Africa. This means they will be facing the teams currently ranked in the top five in the world in six of their tournament games.
This will be the fourth match between Scotland and Argentina in the past five months. It’s not a new idea, but it is critical and potentially dangerous. Although the Pumas should be exhausted by Michael Cheika’s irrepressible coaching, they have proven to be capable of doing things that others believed impossible.
They lost to New Zealand and England despite all predictions. Matias Alemanno and Tomas Lavanini are the back five of their team – Juan Martin Gonzalez and Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera and Tomas Lavanini – and they were the same ferocious group that played for the All Blacks at Christchurch in August and Twickenham in England a fortnight earlier.
They appeared tired after their defeat against Wales last week. It was a sign of weakness which Cheika doesn’t want to endure for two consecutive weeks. They might have been flat at the Principality Stadium, which is a sign that they are going to be given one last blast to finish the year.
Lord knows what the Six Nations will do for his squad. But the team Townsend picked Saturday is close to the side that will be starting that tournament, injuries permitting.
Fraser Brown will face competition from the other hookers. Gray the elder and Scott Cummings are back in contention for one lock spot. Hamish Watson and Rory Darge will take the back row.
We assume Russell will stay in the fold. It’s a dangerous assumption, but we’ll take it.
That’s three short of a loaded XV against Pumas, and five short of a first choice 23. Home advantage. It’s an important match against a team who’s been working almost non-stop for five long months.
This will be a tough test of Scotland’s resolve – something they desperately need to pass.
