Scotland’s first home match under head coach Vern Cotter began in five-try style at BT Murrayfield and a 41-31 defeat of Argentina that was not as close as the scoireline suggests.
Led by man of the match and skipper Greig Laidlaw, the young Scots team swarmed all over a highly-rated Pumas side and after a quick recovery from gifting the visitors a second minute try, never looked in any doubt.
Argentina roused themselves for three late tries as the Scottish performance lost cohesion due to sin-binnings and substitutions, but by then the game was long won with every player in dark blue playing their part.
The Gray brothers, locks Richie and Jonny, marked their first match together at any level with a try each. Two tries either side of half-time by Sean Maitland and Stuart Hogg were down to Laidlaw’s quick thinking and speedy breaks, while Tommy Seymour added his fourth try for his country with an interception score.
It’s Scotland’s first win over Argentina at Murrayfield since 1990, and sets them up for the visit of the world champions New Zealand at BT Murrayfield next week.
The new era actually had a pretty dispiriting start after just two minutes when Laidlaw spilled the ball in a tackle from the big wing Manuel Montero and flanker Javier Ortega took the ball 60 yards the other way for the opening try, converted by Nicolas Sanchez.
Yet the Scots bounced back within three minutes thanks to big charges by the forwards, and Richie Gray galloped through a tackle for the equalising try, converted by Laidlaw.
Sanchez briefly restored Argentina’s lead with a penalty but wing Juan Imhoff’s ill-advised shoulder charge on Tommy Seymour brought him a yellow card and the Scots took complete charge.
First, from more solid setpiece ball inside the visitors’ 22 the Scots pushed close and then Jonny Gray slid through a tackle for his first test try, and then the 20-year-old stole possession in midfield.
The Pumas infringed trying to get the ball back and Laidlaw tapped the penalty, raced clear, and fed the supporting Maitland for an easy run-in.
Scotland might have had a fourth try before half-time but Jonny Gray couldn’t find new cap Mark Bennett when the young centre had a clear run to the line.
The fourth try was only delayed until a few minutes into the second half as Laidlaw again darted through a gap close to a ruck into space and fed Hogg to dive over in the corner.
The captain added a penalty before taking an early rest, and as substitutions started to come on Rob Harley was yellow carded for a dangerous take-out at a lineout, while Jim Hamilton also saw yellow for interfering as the Pumas sought some pride from the game.
Argentina took advantage with a penalty try and two scores by replacement scrum-half Tomas Cubelli, but interrupting them was Seymour snatching a Juan Martin Hernandez pass out of the air and strolling over for his side’s fifth score.