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Operation Shutdown: Argentina must keep this man away from their posts
Argentina will come to a standstill when the Pumas take on Scotland in Paris on Sunday. History is beckoning the all-conquering South Americans and a sports-mad nation is beyond believing: they are now expecting.
Argentina skipper Agustín Pichot enjoys summoning up the spirit of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (a famous Argentine egg-chaser himself), claiming that the Pumas are rugby "activists" looking to score a victory over the world's superpowers - all in the name of the 'lesser' nations.
The trouble is, on Sunday, Argentina will take on the role of J. Edgar Hoover - the oppressed has become the oppressor, and the Pumas admit to being uneasy about their newly found status.
The Pumas did come into this tournament as underdogs, but convincing wins over France and Ireland have seen them take on the proportions of a Great Dane.
The Scots are positively Chihauhua-like by comparison. They have only beaten the Pumas once, and that was in the their first encounter back in 1990. Since then, the Scots have conspired to lose five consecutive games.
What's more, Argentina sit a full four places above Scotland on the official IRB World Rankings.
But far from being emboldened by their lofty status, the Argentinians have confessed to vertigo.
"Knowing the Argentine mentality, it is important for us not to think of ourselves as the better side," said Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda, at great pains to point out that rugby isn't played on paper.
Veteran Argentina hooker Mario Ledesma, one of the pillars of the powerful Puma pack, also tried his best to convince the world that fears about being the overdogs has actually made his side the underdogs.
"If you keep on talking about anxiety, we'll end up feeling it," he said.
"Yes, we are as close as we've ever been to the semi-finals - but we need to try to avoid being affected by it.
"We have prepared this match the same way we have prepared the matches against Ireland and France and we hope the result will be the same."
But Scotland coach Frank Hadden is too wily to be flummoxed by such talk. He knows his side are up against a good side and will need to deliver a massive performance if they are to progress to a stage they have not graced since 1991.
"The Pumas are probably the most experienced side in this World Cup," said the former teacher, who owns a record of 12 victories and 13 defeats since he took over.
"They play like a club side, the speed of their reactions in terms of what the player next to them does. Speed is the key to their success."
So the battle for the tag of 'outsider' seems to have been won quite convincingly by Scotland, and Jason White, for one, is happy with the result.
"We will be the underdogs and we are happy with that," said the Scotland skipper, who will win his 63rd cap at the Stade de France on Sunday.
"Argentina have had great victories against two of the top-tier nations - though I wasn't that surprised by either one - and we have always done well when we have been the underdogs."
Indeed they have. Recent history shows backs-to-the-wall wins over the likes of England and France, and Loffreda knows that the contest will not be as simple as many pundits would have us believe.
The Scots have come on leaps and bounds under the stewardship of Hadden. They now have a powerful and disciplined pack and, in Chris Paterson, they boast the best kicker in world rugby.
"Scotland is a very good team defensively and they put a lot of people in the first line of defence while when they have the ball they not only play a very fast game, but they can slow it down in their forward pack, trying to play the maul," said Loffreda.
"So we know they have a lot of variations and they are skilful too. So we know it is going to be very, very difficult and maybe more so than the Ireland game.
"We have to improve our standards - we lost our standards against the Irish and conceded eight penalties.
"That was too much and now we have to be more disciplined. We have to concede no more than five penalties. That's one of the goals we were working on with the players.
"We will have to be very careful with that because we know Chris Paterson is 100 per cent efficient in the tournament so far.
"This is the most important game we have ever played - not only for the squad, the 45 people working and playing here, but for rugby in Argentina.
"We know we have a responsibility to play with our whole being.
"We know Scotland, they are bravehearts, they are brave people."
But how brave? Can they really triumph where the might of France and Ireland failed? What ever transpires, the clash between the new and former underdogs is sure to provide plenty of bite.
Players to watch:
For Argentina: Argentina playmaker Juan Martin Hernández - 'El Mago' (The Magician) to his mates - wove a spell over France and Ireland in the group games and it will be the gifted Stade Français star who will be the key man again for the Pumas against Scotland. The 25-year-old has had an outstanding World Cup, dominating David Skréla in the opening win over France and dropping three goals at key periods against Ireland. One of the stars of the tournament - his second after appearing in the 2003 edition - he has earned high praise from all quarters, not least from Sunday's opponents.
For Scotland: If Chris Paterson doesn't kick then Scotland don't tick. The 29-year-old has more than worn out the hackneyed term 'metronome', no more so than in this tournament where he owns a 100 per cent record with his goal-kicking. The recently-signed Gloucester back is rapidly closing in on becoming Scotland's all-time record scorer as his 41 points so far have seen him move on to 609, only 58 shy of Gavin Hastings. Like Hastings he is also a very capable runner of the ball and his haul of 20 tries in almost 80 appearances testifies to that. Like Hernández he is a polyglot of a back, having played full-back, wing and fly-half for his country, but it is probably at full-back where he is most comfortable.
Head-to-head: Simon Taylor (Scotland) v Gonzalo Longo (Argentina): A contest of contrasting styles at the base of the scrum. How well will the dextrous Scot cope with the bullocking Argentinian?
Previous results:
2005: Argentina won 23-19 in Edinburgh
2001: Argentina won 25-16 in Edinburgh
1999: Argentina won 31-22 in Edinburgh
1994: Argentina won 19-17 in Buenos Aires
1994: Argentina won 16-15 in Buenos Aires
1990: Scotland won 3-49 in Edinburgh
Prediction: Argentina's angst over Chris Paterson's right foot could cause them problems. Scotland also boast some fine strike-runners and they would have garnered a great deal from Ireland's two tries against Argentina, both scored off first-phase possession. But the Pumas have proved to be masters at reacting to changing circumstances and should be more then a match for the Scots. It will be tight, but Argentina will not allow the dream to die just yet. Pumas by five points.
The teams:
Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Simon Webster, 12 Rob Dewey, 11 Chris Paterson, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Allister Hogg, 6 Jason White, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Craig Smith, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Andrew Henderson, 22 Hugo Southwell.
Argentina: 15 Ignacio Corleto, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Manuel Contepomi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Agustín Pichot (c), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Martín Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Lucas Ostiglia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Carlos Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Juan Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Omar Hasan, 18 Rimas Álvarez Kairelis, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 20 Nicolás Fernandez Miranda, 21 Federico Todeschini, 22 Hernán Senillosa.
Date: Sunday, 7 October
Kick-off: 21:00 (20:00 BST; 19:00 GMT)
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Conditions: Clear, dry, light northerly breeze - max 19°C, min 9°C
Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
Touch judges: Chris White (England), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Television match official: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assessor: Bob Francis (New Zealand)
