Ireland vs Australia LIVE: Rugby result and reaction from autumn international as Ireland edge to tight win

Jamie Ritchie, tousled hair flopping over the strapping on his forehead, strides out purposefully, releasing the hand of the mascot that flanks him as he crosses the touchline and breaks into a gallop.

The Scottish players gather in a huddle in the dressing room, Finn Russell last to pull on his jacket and take his place alongside Stuart Hogg.

Emiliano Boffelli will lead out Argentina on his 50th cap, trotting out of the tunnel in his adopted home city to a warm ovation. Julian Montoya and the rest of Los Pumas follow him out.

It is a cool but dry afternoon in Edinbugh, with rain forecast to come later but likely after the match has concluded. It’s a mighty tough game to call, this - Argentina looked a bit flat last week but should be better this.

A brief diversion away from events to come and a trip to Cardiff, where Georgia have secured a famous win over Wales. It was a game won in typical Georgian fashion, with two outstanding scrums late on delivering the match-winning points and penalty, but it was a complete performance from an ever improving side.

As for Wales...crikey. Defeats to Italy and Georgia in the same year - problems for Wayne Pivac.

Sione Tuipulotu has challenged Scotland to gain some revenge on Argentina this Saturday after being pipped at the post by the Pumas in the summer.

The two nations played a three-Test series in South America in July and, after they had won one Test apiece, the Scots looked on course to triumph in the third Test when they led by 15 points, only for the hosts to fight back and claim a 34-31 victory in the final moments of the match.

Tuipulotu, the Glasgow centre, is hoping his side can settle a score when they welcome Argentina to BT Murrayfield for the final Test of the autumn series.

“I hope we can get one back on them after we fell short by a small margin in the summer,” he said. “That’s a massive motivation this week.

“There’s also the factor that a lot of players who weren’t available to us in the summer are available to us now, the likes of Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg and Chris Harris. That adds a lot of experience.”

Can Scotland contend with Argentina’s pack? They fronted up really, really well to New Zealand last week, knocking the All Blacks off their game. I’m intrigued to see how Matt Fagerson and Jamie Ritchie’s roles change alongside Jack Dempsey in the back row - the hosts will miss Hamish Watson but it may not be a bad week to have a little extra size in that area, however much above his weight the openside typically punches.

It’s been a mixed 2022 for both of these two sides. Scotland started on a high with that win over England at Murrayfield but have struggled to build consistency. A win today would give Gregor Townsend’s side optimism entering a World Cup year - the team is unlikely to look drastically different come their tournament opener against South Africa.

Argentina’s obvious peaks this year are those performances against New Zealand and England, but if the Pumas have any realistic expectations of a deep World Cup run, this is an important occasion to build confidence.

Julian Montoya returns to lead the Argentina side at hooker. The captain is joined in the starting front row by tighthead Eduardo Bello. Emiliano Boffelli has played all 12 of Argentina’s Tests in the last five months, closing a busy international year in his adopted home city alongside Bautista Delguy and Juan Cruz Mallia in the back three.

There is a Matias swap in the centres with Orlando in for Moroni, while Nicolas Sanchez is back from a calf tear to offer a steadying ten option on the bench if required.

Argentina XV: T Gallo, J Montoya (capt.), E Bello; M Alemanno, T Lavanini; JM Gonzalez, M Kremer, P Matera; G Bertranou, S Carreras; E Boffelli, J de la Fuente, M Orlando, B Delguy; JC Mallia.

Replacements: I Ruiz, N Tetaz Chaparro, S Medrano, L Paulos, F Isa; L Bazan Velez, N Sanchez, M Moroni.

After a strong showing against New Zealand, Gregor Townsend makes only two changes to his Scottish side. One is enforced – Richie Gray’s misdeeds in a ruck resulted in an appearance in front of a citing committee and a ban; his younger brother Jonny starts in his place in the second row.

Hamish Watson’s concussion means there is a first start for Jack Dempsey in Scottish blue and a shuffling of the back row, with Matt Fagerson shunted to six and Jamie Ritchie captaining the side from seven. Finn Russell’s partner, Emma, is heavily pregnant but the fly-half starts again with the newest member of the family yet to arrive.

Andy Christie has been in good form for Saracens and could make his first appearance of the autumn from the bench, where there is also a return to the squad for Cam Redpath.

Scotland XV: P Schoeman, F Brown, Z Fagerson; J Gray, G Gilchrist; M Fagerson, J Ritchie (capt.), J Dempsey; A Price, F Russell; D van der Merwe, S Tuipulotu, C Harris, D Graham; S Hogg.

Replacements: G Turner, J Bhatti, M Walker, G Young, A Christie; B White, B Kinghorn, C Redpath.

Zander Fagerson has called on Scotland to round off an Autumn Nations Series of mixed fortunes on a positive note by delivering a “ruthless” performance against Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Gregor Townsend’s side have suffered two agonising defeats at the hands of heavyweights Australia and New Zealand after leading in both games.

In between, they fought back to beat Fiji after a ragged first half.

Fagerson admitted the Scots – buoyed by their spirited effort against the All Blacks last weekend – are desperate to produce a complete 80-minute display of focus and discipline in their final outing of 2022.

“We were in the game for so long last weekend and it was just that last little bit, so there are lots of lessons to be learnt,” said the Scotland and Glasgow prop.

“All eyes are on Argentina now and we’re looking to go out on a high with a performance we can be proud of.

“We want to go out there, stick to our game-plan and give an 80-minute performance. We’ve shown glimpses but we’ve not done a full 80-minute performance in games.

“We have to go out there and be ruthless, take it to them for the whole game and come away with a win.”