Scotland slumped to an unfortunate defeat at the hands of Argentina in their third match of Rugby World Cup 2011. The result leaves Scotland needing an unlikely victory against England in order to have any chance of progressing into the knockout stages. The match couldn't have been much closer however, with Scotland losing out by one point after a late drop-goal miss by Dan Parks.
Scotland went in at half-time three points clear of their Argentine counterparts. Argentina took the lead from the boot of Felipe Contepomi before penalties from Ruaridh Jackson and Chris Paterson saw Scotland take the lead.
Contepomi then drew Argentina level in the second half before drop goals from Jackson and Dan Parks gave Scotland a six-point lead. Unfortunately as the game was heading into the final few minutes Amorosino weaved over and Contepomi converted to give Argentina a narrow one point lead. With Park's last ditch effort missing it leaves Scotland looking at the strong possibility of going out of a world cup in the group stages for the first time ever.
The first half started well for Scotland but soon Argentina began to work their way into the game, and were fortunate to stay in touch with the Argentines missing several kicks. Argentina had the stronger half as Scotland failed to genuinely threaten the Argentine line as the match became scrappier with both teams giving away cheap penalties.
The second half saw Scotland apply more pressure and begin to threaten the argentine try-line. As conditions worsened both teams began to increasingly adopt more of a kicking game despite missing several attempts at the posts.
The result leaves Scotland needing a result against England and hoping Georgia can put in a strong performance against Argentina. The likelihood being though that Scotland are set to exit a world cup in the group stage for the first time ever. However, the Scots can take some solace in a decent performance against a strong Argentine side.
