Hadden in a serious mindset

Scotland coach Frank Hadden says the Test matches against Argentina are crucial.

Scotland coach Frank Hadden acknowledges the forthcoming Test matches against Argentina are crucial if his team are to improve their position in the International Rugby Board rankings.

Scotland visit Argentina on Saturday at Rosario in the first Test, with the teams clashing again a week later in Buenos Aires.

And Hadden told a press conference that his priorities for this tour have changed.

“It is very important for us to win these games,” Hadden said.

“We understand that the World Cup places now depend on the world ranking. So these are not isolated matches.

“First I thought that this could be a development opportunity for some players. We started this phase 13 months ago – but the IRB's decision changed our work.”

Hadden believes his squad are strong enough, even though lock Scott Murray was not released by French side Montauban while Sean Lamont, Jason White, Jim Hamilton, Scott Lawson, Ross Rennie and Craig Smith are missing the tour because of injury.

“We brought the best side available,” Hadden added.

“We lost some players through injury and other reasons, but we didn't name a development team.

“The purpose of this trip is not to develop players any more.”

The Scots face a tough challenge as they have not beaten Argentina since 1990, when they saw off the Pumas 49-3 at Murrayfield.

Hadden has a healthy respect for his opponents.

“There is a very different rugby culture here and we are very respectful of that,” the 53-year-old explained.

“We have never beaten Argentina U19 and U21 teams, so we are fully aware of how difficult it is going to be. We are fully aware of the size of the challenge.

“When you play a side with the quality Argentina have you have to do everything right.

“We need to start well, make very few errors and tackle and defend well. You have to be almost perfect at every detail.”

And the coach admitted he is not familiar with players who play domestic rugby in Argentina.

“We all know the international players as we can see them, but the local ones are not well known to us. That could be a problem,” he said.

“But at the same time, that helps us to be focus on ourselves and not worry too much about the opposition.”

Meanwhile, captain Mike Blair considered that it will important not to let Argentina impress in front of their fans.

“Argentina have a lot of pride and they are playing their first game since the World Cup in front of their home support,” Blair said.

“They will be very keen to make a good show with their fans there.

“It is going to take a big effort from us to stop their momentum and influence in the game.”