"Lack of composure" - Gregor Townsend and Sione Tuipulotu reflect on Scotland's shock defeat to Argentina

For nearly 60 minutes, Scotland looked assured, accurate and in full control. At 21-0 up early in the second half, they had dominated the set-piece, the collisions and the territory. It appeared they were on course for a morale-boosting win that would lift them above Argentina in the world rankings.

Instead, Argentina delivered the biggest comeback in their Test history, scoring five tries in 26 minutes to stun Murrayfield. Statistically, the reversal sits as the joint seventh biggest turnaround in Test rugby history. Townsend did not shy away from the moment that changed everything: Finn Russell’s intercepted long pass with the Argentinian line stretched.

“It’s such a huge momentum swing,” Townsend said. “Sometimes you make an error and nothing happens … But for it to flip the field and us to lose a yellow card, it was obviously very costly. That’s down to the actions of others as well, and very good play by Argentina.”

From that point on, Scotland barely touched the ball and allowed attack after attack from the visitors. Their captain Tuipulotu admitted as much, pointing to a collective loss of composure that allowed Argentina to take control.

“We didn't touch the ball for large parts of that second half because our discipline was so bad,” Tuipulotu said. “I think it just came down to a lack of composure under a little bit of adversity there with giving away penalties and we couldn't stem the flow and that's on us as players.”

His assessment was direct. Scotland had executed their plan well for the first 50 minutes, but when under pressure, they could not reset.

“As players, we're going to have to take a good, hard look at ourselves because it's not a good enough performance from us,” he continued. “We score one more try when we're 21 points up and I think the floodgates could open… But we didn't do that and, to be honest, we probably deserved to cop it a little bit as a playing group.”

Townsend now turns his attention to Tonga next week, a match that has taken on a different weight after this collapse and provides his side with a great opportunity to finish off their autumn with a win. Selection plans for that match have been affected not only by availability, but by performance.

“I had a team in mind for next week but the forward plan is affected by player availability and performance,” he said. “But there’s a group of players that have prepared this team very well… that are deserving of involvement.”

The coach also acknowledged the expectation on the squad to respond.

“We know the team we have and what we've shown over the last two weeks, that has to be turning into victories,” he said. “Collectively and individually, we have to do better.”