What Argentina horrorshow taught Scotland

Ewan Ashman hopes Scotland can demonstrate in Saturday’s Nations Championship opener away to Argentina how much they have grown since their capitulation against the Pumas last autumn.

The Scots were left shellshocked in November after squandering a 21-0 lead to lose 33-24 to the South Americans at Murrayfield, a result that brought intense pressure on head coach Gregor Townsend and sparked a period of soul-searching in the dressing room.

Scotland responded by winning three of their five Six Nations matches earlier this year, and hooker Ashman hopes they can maintain their encouraging start to the year with a strong display in Cordoba on Saturday.

“I think we had a lot of conversations on the back of that game and talked about those momentum shifts,” said Ashman. “I think it ended up being a massive learning for us and we took a lot of positives out of that in terms of how to deal with that sort of situation.

“And I think that showed in a couple of our Six Nations performances – dealing with the momentum swings – when you look at the France game and the England game.

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“I think that ended up being a really good thing for us to learn from and it’s made us a better team. It’s something we’re still working on, but it’s definitely improved us as a group.”

Ashman, 26, is cast as the senior hooker in the squad, with the absence of experienced pair George Turner and Dave Cherry paving the way for uncapped duo Seb Stephen and Gregor Hiddleston to be included for this summer’s Nations Championship matches against Argentina, South Africa and Fiji.

“Obviously, they [Hiddleston and Stephen] have been around camp before, and they fit in,” said the Edinburgh forward. “They’re good lads, really good characters and easy to get along with.

“We all kind of contribute and push each other and they’re quality rugby players as well, so they add loads to the group. It’s nice to bounce things off them, and I’m excited to see them hopefully get a run on.”