San Francisco Frontiers - Scotland sweat on Russell fitness ahead of Argentina clash

The influential fly-half needed several bouts of treatment for a knee problem during Saturday's agonising 25-17 loss to New Zealand before being replaced in the closing stages at Murrayfield following an ankle injury.

Huw Jones and Zander Fagerson, two of Russell's fellow British and Irish Lions, missed the Autumn Nations Series defeat by the All Blacks through injury.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend will now hope he does not lose another senior player for what is set to be a tough encounter against a Pumas side who have beaten New Zealand both home and away in recent seasons.

“His knee was the initial injury, and I thought he was outstanding, even though he had that knee strain," Townsend said of Russell. "The reason we took him off was because he had an ankle too, so there were two injuries he was carrying.

"He doesn’t think it’ll be serious, but it’s obviously too early to say," added Townsend, himself a former Scotland playmaker. "We hope he’ll be fit for next week, but we have to deal with injuries.

"We had two Lions who weren’t available for the New Zealand game, but we've got other players that can step up."

Saturday's defeat left Scotland still searching for a first win over New Zealand in 120 years of Tests between the two countries.

This latest reverse was all the more shattering as Scotland, 17-0 down at half-time following tries by Cam Roigard and Will Jordan, fought back to draw level on the hour at 17-17 thanks to tries by Ewan Ashman and Kyle Steyn and a Russell penalty.

Scots' hopes of a landmark win were bolstered still further when the All Blacks had a third player yellow-carded early in the fourth quarter as Wallace Sititi followed Leroy Carter and Ardie Savea into the sin-bin.

But New Zealand regained the lead courtesy of a stunning try from Damian McKenzie seven minutes from time before the replacement back's long-distance penalty sealed the All Blacks' 31st win in 33 Tests against Scotland, with two draws the Dark Blues' best results in the fixture's history.

"The reality is that there’s always a winner and a loser in sport, and this is not the final game in our season or the final game in the players’ careers," Townsend said.

“They’ve got one next week. We’d love to play New Zealand more regularly. We will play them next year in the new Nations Championship, so we just have to make the most of the opportunities we get. But if we don’t, then we make sure we become a better team for it."

He added: "But to not have your spirit broken by being held up twice, and to concede a try right on half-time, and come back and get to 17-all, and also just dominate all facets of play in that 20-25 minute period, it shows what the team’s capable of."

M.Hill--SFF