Sione Tuipulotu has challenged Scotland to gain some revenge on Argentina this Saturday after being pipped at the post by the Pumas in the summer.
The two nations played a three-Test series in South America in July and, after they had won one Test apiece, the Scots looked on course to triumph in the third Test when they led by 15 points, only for the hosts to fight back and claim a 34-31 victory in the final moments of the match.
Tuipulotu, the Glasgow centre, is hoping his side can settle a score when they welcome Argentina to BT Murrayfield for the final Test of the autumn series.
Putting in the work 👊
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— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 16, 2022
“I hope we can get one back on them after we fell short by a small margin in the summer,” he said. “That’s a massive motivation this week.
“There’s also the factor that a lot of players who weren’t available to us in the summer are available to us now, the likes of Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg and Chris Harris. That adds a lot of experience.”
Argentina lost to Wales in Cardiff last weekend, but Michael Cheika’s side have beaten Australia, New Zealand and England since their summer Tests against Scotland, and Tuipulotu expects a tough challenge.
“We go into this game confident but I don’t think we go into it thinking we’re massive favourites or anything like that,” he said. “Argentina have had some good results and Cheika’s had some success in his first year with the team.
“You can see the style of rugby they’re trying to play but we back ourselves and feel we can negate their strengths and play the kind of rugby we want to play.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction but, ultimately, we need to win this weekend, plain and simple. We’ve got to win at all costs.”
Gregor Townsend’s Scots are looking to bounce back from the disappointment of their 31-23 defeat by New Zealand last weekend, when they squandered a nine-point advantage in the closing quarter.
“I don’t think there’s any psychological damage from last week,” said Tuipulotu.
“I went to the President’s Suite after the game on Sunday and I don’t know if they were expecting me to say we were feeling good about ourselves because we’d gone close to beating the All Blacks, but in the changing room afterwards there wasn’t really any of that.
“It was really disappointing, just looking round at all the boys, and hearing Gregor speaking after the game and to hear how hurt he was, knowing how close we had gone.
“I think that will be our motivation for this weekend. We’re using it as a bit of fuel to get the job done.”
Scotland Rugby have confirmed that lock Richie Gray will miss the game against Argentina following a disciplinary hearing.
Gray was cited for an act of foul play in the All Blacks game.
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