Nations Championship rugby: Scotland score seven tries in 47-38 away victory over Argentina to make winning start

Scotland banished any lingering demons from November as they kicked off their Nations Championship with an impressive 47-38 away win over Argentina.

The Scots arrived in Cordoba intent on displaying their growth since squandering a 21-0 lead in losing at home to the Pumas last autumn.

They did so in sure-footed fashion, overcoming periods of adversity at the start of each half to run in seven tries at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes and get their campaign off to the best possible start against a side ranked two places above them.

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Scotland - without injured talisman Finn Russell at fly-half - ran in three tries before the break, with captain Sione Tuipulotu, prop Pierre Schoeman and centre Rory Hutchinson putting the visitors 19-10 up at half-time.

Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, debutant Gregor Hiddlestone ‌and Kyle Rowe added the rest of the tries in the second half, while Fergus Burke and Tom Jordan both kicked over three conversions each.

Argentina had been ​on the board first through Joaquin Oviedo and saw Rodrigo Isgro score early in the second half, with Thomas Rapetti adding another try in the 65th minute - when Scotland were down to 14 men - to raise hopes of a late fightback.

Scotland quickly restored a sizeable advantage before Argentina scored two late tries through Lucio Cinti and Agustin Moyano, with Tomas Albornoz converting all five Pumas tries plus adding a penalty.

"To be honest we knew it was going to be a back-and-forth battle, similar to what we faced in the autumn against Argentina," Tuipulotu said. "These are all the things we spoke about, especially coming away from home.

"There was going to be a point in the game where we had to wrestle back momentum and when they came out really hot in the second half we answered back really nicely."

In earlier matches on Saturday, New Zealand edged France 34-32 in Christchurch and Japan beat Italy 27-10 in Tokyo, as Andy Farrell's injury-ravaged Ireland secured a 33-31 victory over Australia in Sydney.

Wales made a winning start to the campaign with a 39-24 win against Fiji, played at the Cardiff City Stadium, while South Africa opened with a 45-21 victory over England at Ellis Park.

What's next?

World Rugby bills the 12-team Nations Championship as North vs South. The tournament has two conferences, the southern - in which northern teams are scheduled to travel south in July - and the northern - when southern teams will travel north in November.

Gregor Townsend's side have now won four of their six Tests this calendar year as they head to Pretoria in buoyant mood for next Saturday's showdown with South Africa (4.40pm start), while Argentina host Wales later that evening (8.10pm ko).

Six rounds of matches will lead to a finals series in London in late November, which World Rugby says will identify the best team in the world.