Scotland ready for 'biggest test in world rugby' as South Africa await after Argentina victory

Gregor Townsend’s side will take on the world champions at Loftus Versfeld on the back of an impressive 47-38 win over Argentina in Cordoba on Saturday evening. It came after their next opponents had hammered England 45-21 in Johannesburg earlier in the day.

Tuipulotu accepts facing South Africa will be another step up in difficulty, but one he says Scotlandare relishing. They have never won away in South Africa and haven’t beaten the Boks at all since 2010.

Scotland heading straight to South Africa as Nations Championship continues

“Next week will be a different challenge in terms of how South Africa defend,” said Tuipulotu. “We know that will be another step up. To be honest, I didn’t see their game against England.

“We know the challenge goes up a few gears next week. Playing South Africa on their own patch is pretty much the biggest challenge in world rugby right now.

“They are back-to-back world champions. It’s a unique challenge but one we are really excited for. We are really pleased to get our Nations Championship off to a great start, but next week will be a different animal.”

Scotland learned lessons from November defeat ahead of ‘massive challenge’ away to Argentina

Scotland can head into the match against the Boks with confidence high following their impressive showing away to Argentina. The victory at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes served as a measure of revenge following last Autumn’s defeat at the hands of Los Pumas at Murrayfield, a match that Tuipulotu says they used as a “landmark”.

“Yeah, we addressed it,” the Scotland skipper said of letting a 21-0 lead slip back in November against Los Pumas. “We had to, there was no point hiding from it or pretending it didn’t happen.

“It was a painful experience, but I also feel it was a bit of a landmark for this team in terms of what we learned. This was always going to be a massive challenge for us considering how good Argentina are as a team and how passionate they are.

“That’s what I wanted us to do most of all — match their passion — and I think we did that. We also played some really good rugby at times as well. We found a nice rhythm with our attack but Gregor spoke to us afterwards about the fact we still left a lot out there as well.”

The away win was particularly pleasing given Scotland were missing key backs in Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn and Huw Jones. However, that opened the door for Rory Hutchinson and Kyle Rowe to put in stand out performances on the night.

The Northampton Saints centre formed a partnership with Tuipulotu in the midfield that showed immediate fluidity in attack. The Gallagher Premiership winner was also one of the try scorers for Scotland.

“I was definitely pleased with how it worked out,” Tuipulotu said on the partnership.. “He’s a great communicator and I like to think that’s a strength of my game as well.

“I am really happy for him. He got an opportunity to play in a big game away from home — and he took it. He played really well. He’s had an awesome season and I think it worked really well between the two of us.”

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