New boy James McLaren fears his chance of a World Cup place may have gone after Scotland's dismal defeat by Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday. McLaren stepped into the inside centre slot vacated by the absent John Leslie, but, like the rest of his team-mates, failed to shine as the Pumas recorded their first victory on British soil.

The former Canberra rugby league player enjoyed one solitary burst down the middle before he was halted by the sturdy Argentine defence. And he left the stadium nursing wounded pride and a sore ankle after being turned over in a tackle.

With coach Jim Telfer due to name his 30-man World Cup squad in just over a week, McLaren knows that opportunities like yesterday's will not arrive too often.

"It is definitely a chance missed," admitted the 17 stone centre. "I am really disappointed because I like to get involved in the action, and it didn't happen."

In what turned out to be a collective nightmare, even the normally composed figure of fullback Glenn Metcalfe failed to shine.

The New Zealand-born star did open his try-scoring account for Scotland with a typically dancing effort five minutes from time, but he was as guilty of slack play as the rest of his team-mates.

He even suffered the embarrassment of knocking on as he attempted to run the ball out of defence after claiming a mark.

With only next Saturday's international against Romania at Hampden Park, plus two scheduled warm-up matches against the Super Districts in September, time is not on Scotland's side as they bid to recapture the form which took them to the Five Nations title last term.

Telfer has already suggested he may try to fit in another couple of friendlies to increase match sharpness, but he also faces other problems, not least the wayward goalkicking of Kenny Logan.

The Wasps winger found his range in the second period to land two conversions, but he missed three other efforts.

The Scotland coach insists that a month of intense training will enable the Scottish pack to repeat their heroics of last season, but they were sadly outgunned by an Argentinean side who showed they are capable of more than just brutal forward play.

In scrum-half Augustin Pichot they have a man capable of sneaking through the narrowest of gaps, and wingers Diego Albanese and Octavio Bartoluccis both grabbed tries to cap excellent individuals displays.