Scotland 52-29 Argentina: Finn Russell runs the show amid flurry of cards

Argentina added three second-half yellow cards to a first-half red as they lost to Scotland.

Finn Russell, who was left out of the squad initially, was instrumental in all eight Scotland tries.

Duhan van der Merwe scored two, with others crossing the whitewash as well.

After Marcos Kremer was sent off, Van der Merwe and Graham scored, but Scotland led by just 19-15 at the half.

Two rapid Argentine yellow cards for Matias Alemanno and Tomas Lavanini followed Graham's second score, with Tuipulotu crossing for the first Scotland try.

During the same chaotic period, Emiliano Boffelli had raced away to plunge under the posts, while Jeronimo de la Fuente and Alemanno struck for the visitors before the interval and Ignacio Ruiz had the final say.

It was a day of six cards, a dozen tries and a badly-needed victory for Scotland who now finish their difficult 2022.

Russell can be thanked for it. Russell was the one who tied it all together.

The player who decorated the Test with one flourish after another and one game-winning moment after another was immense. He was fourth choice for Scotland. Russell is back where he belongs thanks to the weird selection process.

Boffelli, the Edinburgh man playing his 12th Test in five months, put the Argentinas ahead with an early penalty but Russell took over. His pass to Tuipolotu was perfect. The centre stepped Juan Cruz Mallia and then ran away to score.

The fly-half spilled the ball as he tried to clear from his own 22 and the conversion made it 7-3. The Pumas spotted a defence in front of them and were able to get De la Fuente over in the corner. BOFFELLI missed the conversion.

The turning point in the game came after 23 minutes when Kremer caught Ritchie on the head with a forearm and was sent off. The salt was rubbed in the wound.

Russell stepped into a half gap near the Argentina line and popped it to Van der Merwe who ground it under pressure. It was converted to a 14-8 score.

A cake walk was on the cards when Graham scored. Russell put the Pumas on the back foot. Grant Gilchrist supported the team and they scored. A bit of it was eaten by them. Chris Harris tried to go for the line but was stopped. He was freed in the next wave. The little guy has had a great autumn.

It was 19-8 at the end of the first half. Alemanno scored a try and Boffelli narrowed the gap to four after Scotland turned into a penalty machine. Scotland have excelled at blowing handsome leads in games this season, so Murrayfield was still breathing a bit heavy.

For a while, that was how it was. Graham was sent away for his second try of the day after another delicious Russell break and offload out the side door. Scotland had a nine-point lead.

There was a lot of craziness on Murrayfield. On 50 minutes, Alemanno was ejected for a head shot on Gray and on 51 minutes, Lavanani walked for cynical play. Argentina were down to 12 before breaking free of their own 22 when Jack Dempsey fumbled and scored. Matias Orlando and Boffelli ran after the ball together. The wing moved under the sticks. The men had a two point deficit. There are crackers

Scotland's blushes lightened a bit when Hogg put Tuipolotu over for his second try. The boot made it 31-22. There was a period when 15 played 12.

We didn't know it was out again. After a melee on the touchline involving every man on the field bar the budding UN peacekeeper Pierre Schoeman, Thomas Gallo became Scotland's first man in the bin. It was 14 compared to 13 now.

There was a lot of mess. It was a stop-start affair that Scotland dominated but struggled to take advantage of until Redpath scored his first international try. The lead grew to sixteen points with the conversion.

From there, they went on. Six minutes from the end, Graham scored his third and final hat-trick.

The extra tries brought the score to 52-22. The last man to see yellow on a day of yellow and red was Tuipolotu.

Line-ups

Scotland: Graham, Harris, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe, Russell, Price, Schoeman, Brown, Z Fagerson, Gray and Gilchrist.

Turner, Walker, Young, Christie, White, Kinghorn, Redpath are replacements.

There are replacements for Ruiz, Medrano, Medrano, Paulos, I, and Bazan Velez.