Vern Cotter: Scotland praised over Argentina victory

Finn Russell and Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw congratulate Stuart Hogg on his second-half try

Vern Cotter said he was "pleased" as he marked his first home match in charge of Scotland with a 41-31 Murrayfield win over Argentina.

The Scots ran in five tries in their first of three autumn Tests, though three late tries for the Pumas took some of the gloss off a good display.

"I was pleased the way the players carried themselves," said Cotter.

"They showed some great qualities and really threw themselves around. They played for each other."

Cotter arrived in Edinburgh from French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne and steered Scotland to three wins from four on their summer tour.

Argentina were one of the sides beaten in June, along with the USA and Canada, but this was Scotland's first home success against the Pumas since 1990.

"It's a good win, a hard-fought victory," Cotter told BBC Radio Scotland. "I think it's a good reward for the work the players put in. We'll take it, it's been 25 years."

Scotland recovered from a second-minute Javier Ortega Desio try and the crowd enjoyed seeing Sean Maitland and Jonny and Richie Gray cross the line in the first half, the 21st set of brothers to play together for Scotland.

The head coach continued: "We got off to a rough start. I was really pleased with the character of the players when we got straight back and evened things up.

"I was pleased with the initiative that the players took. We varied our game.

"They should savour the evening. They deserved the victory they worked hard for tonight."

The Scots had Rob Harley and Jim Hamilton sin-binned late in the match, the latter just a few minutes after taking to the pitch as a substitute, and it was in that time that they conceded three tries.

Prior to that, they had kept Argentina at bay for 59 minutes.

Jonny Gray thought the team "performed well in patches against a very good side" but said there was room for improvement.

Asked about playing beside his elder sibling, he said: "It was very special, something I'll never forget."

For Richie Gray, the display was "not bad".

He added: "We caused a stubborn Argentina side a lot of problems. It gives us something to work on going into a big Test next week."

That match is at Murrayfield against New Zealand, 24-21 victors over England at Twickenham, before the autumn series ends against Tonga.

"I'll be working hard to think of a couple of new things for the All Blacks game," said Cotter.

Captain Greig Laidlaw converted four of Scotland's tries

"Things that went well we'll be looking to develop, and things that didn't work quite so well we'll be looking at as well to try to get a more complete performance next week.

"We'll sit back quietly on Sunday and Monday morning and assess what we've done."

Full-back Stuart Hogg scored a second-half try, as did his Glasgow Warriors team-mate Tommy Seymour, and looked to be enjoying the high-tempo game encouraged by Cotter.

He said: "The pleasing thing is that we went out there and put into practise what we've been doing all week. I'm absolutely delighted.

"He's come in with different ideas. He's wanting the boys to have a go and that is exactly what happened."