The Scots will take on the Pumas in Wellington on the back of two straight wins but only too aware that whoever loses will be fighting an uphill battle to achieve qualification to the knock-out stages with England favourites to top Pool B.

Scotland have never failed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup but Argentina have the edge in recent years, having won eight of the 12 matches since 1990, including at the last-eight stage four years ago in France.

Last year Scotland did chalk up two victories in Argentina however, but Townsend believes the Pumas will provide a far harder test in the New Zealand capital.

"This will be a much tougher challenge than we faced in Argentina," said Townsend, who won 82 caps for Scotland.

"Argentina have a lot of big game players with a lot of experience.

"We have got to match their physicality, we've got to have a very strong set-piece. They have a huge scrum, a huge line-out presence, especially in the drive.

"A lot of these players were involved in Argentina a year ago and know what's required to win.

"But I believe the team we've got is more than capable of delivering the huge performance that we'll need.

"The loser is going to find it tough to get into the next stage of the tournament.”