Scotland's Kyle Traynor trudges from the field © Getty Images

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Matches: Scotland 6 - 9 Argentina

Teams: Argentina | Scotland

Well, that was a bit of a let-down, wasn't it? From the vast expanses of empty seats at Murrayfield to the stodgy on-field fare, this was not the reaction Andy Robinson would have wanted following last weekend's famous win over Australia.

The Pumas arrived at Murrayfield with no wins but two dogged displays on tour and they out-did Scotland at their own game, tackling like madmen and slowing the ball at any conceivable juncture. They stopped Scotland's early charge dead in its tracks following the sin-binning of Nathan Hines for a needless dump tackle and administered a drop of Scotland's own medicine to them with Martin Rodriguez's winning drop-goal.

Realistically this result was always on the cards. Scotland's win last weekend, while thrilling and heroic defensively, could on another evening have been a comfortable 20-point loss given Australia's dominance of territory and possession and Scotland's lack of a cutting edge.

The early exchanges were promising for Scotland with a willingness to run the ball yielding snappy breaks from Sean Lamont and Alex Grove, but they created only one gilt-edged try-scoring opportunity which was wasted by Grove's reticence to release the ball to his outside man.

The game descended, as they have done in all of the Pumas' tour matches, in to a slow-burn affair with the referee scrapping against the tide of their suffocating work at the breakdown.

In the aftermath of the win over Australia, Robinson described it as "the most courageous performance I've ever been involved in," which will make this weekend's result bitterly disappointing. His doctrine of belief will have been shaken, also by the players' efforts being rewarded by empty stands, and his work now must be not only to retain this belief but also to fashion some form of attacking platform to work alongside what is a solid defence.

Sean Lamont and Thom Evans attacking from their own 22 is exciting and brave, but not a viable means of scoring regularly. Lamont in particular was superb, brimming with pace and power but his bursts were rarely accompanied by support that matched his desire.

Chris Cusiter has the attacking armoury to unlock most defences at scrum-half but his work is accompanied by a fly-half who looks comfortable in defence and in dictating with the boot but is lacking imagination.

Phil Godman is developing in to a steadying hand and would do well to look at examples such as Stephen Jones and Ronan O'Gara, who equally are not blessed with unbelievable pace or flair but are able to knit together the disparate parts of a backline in to a whole. If Godman stood flatter, attacking the defence at first receiver, then his centres may have a little more space to step out of their current functional brief.

Time and again the Scots brought either Sean Lamont or fullback Rory in to first receiver, which immediately cuts off the options. Their bursts were effective at times but easily defended once the canny Pumas cottoned on to their gameplan.

Also, without the snaffling prowess of Jonny Barclay the lottery at the breakdown was far kinder to the men in light blue. Quick ball from the breakdown and some heads-up rugby in midfield could provide Scotland with a bit of extra prowess going forward. Like the Pumas, if they can't learn how to create chances their win against Australia will be all for naught come the start of the Six Nations.