The tagline “Red Bull gives you wings” is well-known from the energy drink company, which has now expanded its influence impressively into the sporting world.

Recently, Red Bull has added Newcastle’s rugby team and Scotland’s head coach, Gregor Townsend, to its roster—although Townsend’s inclusion has sparked some debate. This move complements their existing investments in football clubs and a Formula 1 team.

It’s too early to determine if Townsend’s partnership with Red Bull will benefit him and Scottish rugby as he and his superiors at Murrayfield anticipate. The collaboration could either be a stepping stone to success or a burden for the 52-year-old as he strives to achieve significant victories for Scotland.

The recent 25-17 defeat to New Zealand highlighted a recurring theme: the more things appear to evolve, the more they remain unchanged, unfortunately.

Scotland came close, but ultimately fell short once again.

Gregor Townsend needs Scotland to show ruthlessness and composure against Argentina

To modify the famous Red Bull slogan, Scotland doesn’t need “wings”—with players like Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn, and Duhan van der Merwe, they’re already well-equipped in that department. What they really need is for Townsend to guide them to victories.

But wins – big, meaningful, difficult wins – are what Townsend must start putting together in this final phase of his Scotland career, culminating in the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Starting with Argentina on Sunday.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Of course, it will be anything but.

The Scots remain frustratingly inconsistent. Not just from week to week but during a match. How many times do we have to listen to calls for a ‘full 80-minute performance’ from the Scotland camp after a game?

Today, Townsend admitted that his side ‘just switched off in the first half in defence’ as the All Blacks sprinted into a 17-0 lead. Just switched off. Against the All Blacks.

We are not privy, of course, to what is being said behind closed doors but Townsend has made only one change from last week’s side – Rory Darge starts in place of Matt Fagerson at openside – so he’s obviously not too upset with his players’ efforts.

‘I thought the players played really well and to have that as your first game of the season with everybody available was a pleasant surprise,’ he went on to explain.

‘Sometimes in that first game of the season, there’s a lack of cohesion early on in the game, but I thought we were right into the game, especially in attack.

‘I think we just switched off in the first half in defence, but after that we defended well, so those players get the right to go again.

‘They played well and there’s the benefit of going with a settled team. With what we’ve learned in that game and another week of training, we’ll be a better team for that.

‘So the one change is Rory Darge being fully fit again. He’s had a couple of weeks training, he had those minutes off the bench and we feel having a genuine openside, someone who’s played a lot of Test matches in that position, he’s a vice-captain, it was right to bring him back in.’

The problem with Scotland’s habit of ‘switching off’ is that if you do it against a world-class team, the game can be gone by the time the switch comes back on.

Finn Russell has been passed fit after picking up injuries against the All Blacks last weekend

Yes, they fought back admirably last weekend. But when the game was there to be won, it again slipped through Scottish fingers. A lack of composure. A lack of ruthlessness.

Townsend needs these qualities in his side and they need to be apparent against Argentina.

Listening to Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi, fresh from his team’s record 52-28 hammering of Wales in Cardiff, it’s apparent the respect he has for Scotland – but there was little fear. And that’s a problem in itself.

‘Scotland is a very solid team,’ he told the BBC. ‘They are very mature, they’ve been with Gregor [Townsend] for a long time, so they know exactly what they want and they have quality players.

‘For us, it’s a very tough game. Probably people say it’s even because we are in a certain way very similar, the way we approach the rugby, the way we want to play.

‘It will be a massive challenge, defensive challenge. And when we have the ball, we like to impose our strategy.

‘They’re a very solid team that have been having good results and good performances. Last weekend they were very close to beating a very good All Blacks team and any other day they could have beaten them.

‘For this group particularly, it will mean a lot [to win] because we haven’t won in Murrayfield for the last I don’t know how many years.

‘It’s a great opportunity and we’ll embrace that opportunity because it doesn’t come every year or very often.’

Tough. Solid. Hardly the words of a man who was turning up in Edinburgh and bracing himself for a hiding from the home team.

But that is what happens when you don’t turn style into substance. Teams respect Scotland. They compliment their attacking play. Then they go out on to the pitch thinking they can beat them.

Townsend needs wins. He needs scoreboard pressure, not just during games but to put doubt into his opponents’ minds before the national anthems play.

To that end, it was refreshing to hear Finn Russell speak about the players taking more responsibility this week in terms of standards – one of his takeaways from the recent successful Lions tour of Australia.

The influential stand-off has been passed fit to start after knee and ankle issues led to him being substituted in the closing stages against the All Blacks.

‘It was a frustrating game to watch back,’ said Russell. ‘We got out slowly, obviously. We gave them a 17-point lead.

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi says the Scotland game is a  great opportunity for his team

‘We played well to get back into the game, especially the second half.

‘There were quite a few key moments, being held up, or not quite executing second half. So being clinical and keeping our composure are the main things to take from that game.

‘There were a lot of positives. We need to make sure we learn from it.’

Perhaps it was telling that Russell suggested the responsibility for doing that was on the players themselves – not his boss.

Speaking of what he learned from his time with the Lions, he continued: ‘Being away in the summer with the Lions was good, to see how other coaches operate, how other players operate.

‘Seeing a different way was probably quite good and for us as a group of Scottish players has been much better – how the week can be structured, how the meetings and training sessions can be structured was slightly different.

‘There was more onus on the players taking control. And driving the standards. Driving what we want. So coming back from that summer, we have been doing that as a group of players.’

Well, whoever is in control, if they could steer Scotland to victory, that would go a long way to silencing some of the doubts about both the coach and the team.

Argentina are a threat. A defeat would leave Townsend and Co needing more than a can of Red Bull to energise them for the challenges ahead.