In the opening round of the Nations Championship, Los Pumas fell to Scotland 47-38 at the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium in Cordoba.

The team led by Felipe Contepomi returned to the country with the aim of starting its participation in the brand new competition on the right foot and repeating the good results obtained during 2025.

The two teams met again after the 2025 November window, in which the Argentine team came back from 0-21 down to win 33-24 at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. The match also marked Matías Alemanno’s 100 caps with the Argentine second-rower becoming the fifth centenarian player in the history of Los Pumas.

In an entertaining first half, Los Pumas took the field determined to impose conditions and make the home advantage count. The Argentine team monopolized possession during the first minutes, although their advances clashed with the solid Scottish defense. However, the pressure was rewarded and, after 6 minutes, after imposing himself in the line-out and advancing with the maul, Joaquín Oviedo took the ball and dived to score the first try of the afternoon.

From then on, the Scottish forwards began to increase their work rate and, gradually, moved the game to the Argentine field. Gregor Townsend’s team took advantage of a lack of attention by the Pumas’ defense for their captain, Sione Tuipulotu, to score unopposed on the right side in the 17th minute. The visitors confirmed their dominance just five minutes later, when a great move from Kyle Rowe created space for Pierre Schoeman to score his team’s second try.

The match then entered a stretch in which Scotland began to impose themselves in the aerial battle and capitalised on the teritory. Despite this, Los Pumas responded with the precision of Tucumán fly-half Tomás Albornoz, who scored a penalty in the 33rd minute. Despite that set back, Scotland again found ways to widen the difference: five minutes before the break, Rory Hutchinson scored another try after a quick counterattack. With time already up, the visitors again threatened to increase the lead, although the Argentine defense managed to hold on and prevented anf further score. The first half closed with Scotland in front 19-10.

The Pumas came out in the second half determined to reverse the scoreboard and, just 2 minutes in, a masterful pass kick through from Santiago Carreras enabled Rodrigo Isgró, who followed up the kick, to gather the ball for a try that put his team back in the game. Motivated by the score Aregtnina pressed, however, Scotland again imposed themselves in the line-out and maul and after 11 minutes, they reached their fourth try of the afternoon through Gregor Brown.

Scotland then again took advantage of Argentina’s inbility to counter-attack to launch a quick counterattack themselves that saw Scott Cummings cross for a try.

Far from giving up, Los Pumas scored in the 25th minute of the second-half after winning again with the maul, allowing replacment Tomás Rapetti to crash over. However, the Scots responded with the same forcefulness and stretched the difference again with two more tries: in the 28th minute, through Gregor Hiddleston, and in the 33rd, thanks to another run by Kyle Rowe.

The Argentine national team did not give up and, four minutes from the end, responded with a steal by Lucio Cinti, who scored under the posts. Los Pumas went forward again and after a succession of pick and gos, Agustín Moyano was rewarded with a try also. However, time was not enough for a comeback and Scotland ended up winning 47-38.

Argentina 38 [10] (Tries: Oviedo, Isgro, Rapetti, Cinti, Moyano; Cons: Albornoz 5; Pen: Albornoz) Scotland 47 [19] (Tries: Tuipulotu, Schoeman, Hutchinson, Brown, Cummings, Hiddleston, Rowe; Cons: Burke 3, Jordan 3)

Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Faustino Sanchez Valarolo, 11 Mateo Carreras; 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Santiago Grondona, 6 Pablo Matera (captain), 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti; 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Tomas Rapetti, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Joaquin Moro, 21 Agustin Moyano, 22 Matias Morono, 23 Bautista Delguy

Scotland: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Jonny Gray, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.

Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 George Horne, 22 Fergus Burke, 23 Darcy Graham.

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Jordan Way (Australia)

TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)