Stuart McInally 'loved' Scotland captaincy as they thump Argentina
- Published
Adam Hastings was praised by Scotland coach Gregor Townsend
Stuart McInally relished stepping into the captaincy role as Scotland wrapped up their summer tour with a record victory over Argentina in Resistencia.
Gregor Townsend's men thumped the Pumas 44-15, racking up six tries.
McInally, who missed out against Canada and United States through injury, was one of eight changes made following the surprise 30-29 defeat in Houston.
"We have so much leadership in the squad that I don't need to worry about doing everything myself," he said.
"I was just the lucky one who got to lead us out. I loved it.
"I woke up this morning and I almost forgot I was captain. I've had so much help this week and it was just easy for me to go on to the pitch and say the last few words."
Scrum-half George Horne scored the first of his two tries with barely a minute gone and the Scots added four more before half-time.
Blair Kinghorn, Stuart McInally, Magnus Bradbury and Horne again capitalised on dismal defence as the Scots led 36-3.
The Pumas rallied with tries for Tomas Lezana and Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, but Dougie Fife crossed for Scotland.
"The first half, we did everything we spoke about and we were accurate and a lot of our attack and our defence was a step up from what it was last week," McInally said.
"It was about going back to basics and to what we know we do really well, which is be accurate, play with tempo and be physical in defence.
"The most pleasing thing was that we went out and did what we said we were going to do during the week.
"We executed the game plan and we knew where the spaces were going to be.
"We didn't express ourselves enough last week."
Stuart Hogg and Stuart McInally celebrated the win over Argentina
Townsend was full of praise for young half-backs Horne and Adam Hastings.
"There was about a 140-cap difference between the two sets of half backs and they are quality players in the Argentine team: [Martin] Landajo and [Nicolas] Sanchez, I love watching them play," he said.
"That was a huge challenge for our guys on their second starts for Scotland, but they played with so much positivity, they went for gaps they knew were there, which shows they were confident, they thrived in that environment. It was really encouraging for the future.
"Adam is a confident guy. He obviously did not have a brilliant experience last week, although there were some good things, lots of good things.
"It was great to see him put that behind him. All our team were very set about playing, especially when we turned up and the crowd was already in place."