Pumas in must-win match against Scotland

Argentina were the surprise package of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, beating hosts France for third place, but this time around they find themselves facing a must-win pool match against Scotland on Sunday. Los Pumas lost their opener to England 13-9 but went on to beat Romania 43-8. However, Scotland are sitting pretty with wins over the Romanians (34-24) and Georgia (15-6), albeit with a final pool game against England to come on October 1 after this weekend's Argentine hurdle. That leaves Argentina, who face Georgia in their final game, needing a victory to ensure at least qualifying for the knock-out phase as runners-up of Pool B ahead of Scotland. In a huge confidence booster for Los Pumas, talismanic skipper Felipe Contepomi will start at inside centre after coming back from a rib injury sustained in the England match which saw him ruled out of the win over Romania. "I'm still in a bit of pain, I'm not pain free but it worked well, and hopefully I'll be playing if nothing (untoward) happens," said Contepomi. His presence was not under-estimated by No 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe. "Our captain is our leader, our soul," Lobbe said. "He has just that kind of magic it's not easy to find in a rugby player and we're very, very happy he'll be out there with us." Although it was Argentina who dispatched Scotland at the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, the Scottish notched up an away two-Test series win over Los Pumas last summer for a massive confidence booster. Scotland coach Andy Robinson said that his team could revel in that first southern hemisphere Test series win, but warned that Argentina were an improving side. "We can draw confidence from our victories in Tucuman and Mar del Plata last year, just as Argentina will retain happy memories from their win at Murrayfield in 2009," the former England boss said."I also believe that Argentina - as they have already demonstrated in the last two months - are a better team than we faced on their soil last year." Ruaridh Jackson will start at fly-half in place of Dan Parks because of his superior passing and running game."We want to get out there and have a go at Argentina. Who is our best passing 10? I think that's Ruaridh," Robinson said, adding that Jackson had "a very good ability to go to the line and challenge defences"."We believe it's important for us to play with the ball in hand as well as have the balanced game of kicking. "We've got to be able to play with the ball in hand and move Argentina around." Jackson is one of five changes from the team that beat Georgia 15-6 last week, Robinson also recalling Scotland's most capped player Chris Paterson at fullback instead of Rory Lamont. Up front, prop Geoff Cross, lock Richie Gray and openside flanker John Barclay replace Euan Murray, Nathan Hines and Ross Rennie, Murray ruled out of Sunday's match because of his religious beliefs.Scrum-half Rory Lawson will skipper the team for the game that will likely decide the group runners-up."This is phase two of our operation in the World Cup, we've got two games to win," said Robinson. "Argentina on a good day can beat anyone in the world," he added. "They'll come out and play rugby against us, and we'll have to match them. "This is a top pool game. We know it's going to be a tough game, we found the first two games hard, this will be even harder."