Scotland braced for Argentina tactic that New Zealand struggled with - 'they're really good at that'

Felipe Contepomi’s squad head north on the back of a record win over Wales in Cardiff during which they peppered the Welsh backline, and full-back Blair Murray in particular, with high balls.

There was plenty of subtly too, with flanker Pablo Matera producing a perfectly measured kick out wide to set up Mateo Carreras for one of the tries of the weekend.

Townsend said Scotland’s back three and fly-half Finn Russell have been working hard on their aerial game since the Six Nations, getting to grips with the law change which favours the attacking side in such duels. The Scotland coach called it “a game within a game that we've got to win” and it was part of the reason why Kyle Steyn was given the nod ahead of Duhan van der Merwe for last Saturday’s match against New Zealand.

Steyn’s general form has been good but he excels in the air and it’s a part of the game he relishes. Going into the All Blacks game, he studied footage of their recent matches with Argentina and saw how fearless the South American side were in this area.

‘They don't have much respect for their body’

“When I was watching the high balls through the week, a lot of the real good ones, where New Zealand have come off second best, were against Argentina,” said Steyn.

“It's a mindset thing. It shows you that they're really good at that. They get up for it. They don't have much respect for their body. They'll go into any collision. If I get selected again, I'll be looking forward to that.”

The importance of the aerial battle cannot be overstated, according to Steyn, who said it had become integral to the Scotland team’s training.

“You prepare for attack, defence, set-piece, and now you prepare for the kicking game,” said the Glasgow winger. “It's become like a facet or a set-piece on its own, because of the laws, and how difficult it is now to retain your own possession in defence and how can you apply the most pressure, because the laws allow you to do that now.

“I think it's great for the game. I think you get some of the best athletes going out there, trying to show what they can do in the air, and with their athleticism. It's honestly just quite fun to be a part of it.”

Law change favours attacking chasers

Townsend reckons that four out of the five balls that go up are won by the attacking team, a consequence of last year’s law change which prevents loitering defenders - or 'escorts' - from blocking attacking chasers. It means the aerial jousts now tend to be genuine one-on-one contests, which favour the offensive team.

It’s likely to be a tactic deployed regularly by Argentina on Sunday and Scotland will look to Steyn and Co to negate the threat.

Townsend’s side let the game slip from grasp against the All Blacks last weekend and need a victory over the Pumas to salvage their autumn campaign. Having fought back from 17-0 down to restore parity and playing against a team who were reduced to 14 men on three separate occasions, Scotland couldn’t get their noses in front and Steyn admitted New Zealand gave them “a lesson in big moments”.

“They knew how to wrestle the game, find those moments and took them when they really came into it,” he said of the late Damian McKenzie try that turned the match back in the visitors’ favour, with New Zealand eventually winning 25-17.

“I had all the belief that we were going to do it,” added Steyn. “Credit to them, I thought the way they managed the yellow cards and slowed the game down and wrestled the momentum back - there's probably a lesson in there for us.”