Of the 37 players originally selected for this tour, all bar the injured Glen Young have made at least two appearances in the Americas – plus a single outing for late call-up, Ross McCann – as the coaches have looked to give the full squad the chance to press their case for more regular involvement.
Max Williamson is the only starter against Uruguay that has played some part in all four games on tour. Jamie Dobie and Kyle Steyn should match this feat when sprung from the bench.
So far in the very early stages of the 2027 World Cup cycle, Scotland have used 47 different players. That’s still a long way short of the 79 who featured in the four years ahead of France 2023.
While there may not be another tour with as much of a developmental slant as this one, there are still likely to be opportunities for new faces – or returning players – to make their mark in the coming years.
Head to heads
Kyle Rowe will be just the eighth player to make at least five starts in Scotland’s back three since the end of the 2019 RWC.
With Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland both retired, the Warriors’ man is a welcome addition to what is a relatively small group of options in this area.
Since returning to Glasgow from Harlequins and resuming his international career, Scotland’s newest 50-capper, Huw Jones, has made 33 appearances in the centres for club and country.
He has been paired up with either Sione Tuipulotu (26) or Stafford McDowall (6) for all bar one of those games – against Italy in the most recent Six Nations when his partner in midfield was Cameron Redpath.
This will be the first time that George Horne has had a Test match as his first start with a stand off, having only previously played with current or former club mates, Adam Hastings and Finn Russell.
The half backs do have around 55 minutes of previous game time together last year versus Georgia – where both Horne and Ben Healy came off the bench – and Romania – where Horne was a sub.
Their ability to control the game is likely to be key to Scotland’s performance against what should, in theory, be the strongest opposition faced on this tour.
A second start of the tour means that Ewan Ashman has made as many appearances in the Scotland number 2 jersey this summer as he had in the previous two years.
The Edinburgh player has almost certainly inherited the role of first choice hooker and his ability to grab his chance and match the standards of those who have gone before will be hugely significant, with the likes of the Springboks coming up this autumn and the 2025 Six Nations on the horizon.
Scott Cummings will play his 35th game of this season, which started for the big lock with a Rugby World Cup warmup match against Italy on 29th July 2023. He has played 15 out of 17 of Scotland’s Tests during this time as well as 20 out of 26 possible games for Glasgow Warriors.
His form and consistency have returned him to the group of players who are essential selections, following an injury interrupted spell across 2021 and 2022.
Second row is an incredibly competitive position, but he should certainly be in the conversation for Lions’ squad selection in around nine months’ time.
With Ewan Ashman moving rapidly up the Depth Chart, there is almost certainly room in the full strength match day 23 for at the replacement hooker slot. Patrick Harrison gets another chance to impress having put in an energetic performance against Chile with nine carries in just 34 minutes.
If the Edinburgh man plays more than four minutes off the bench then he will have more game time for Scotland in the space of eight days than he has managed in the past 17 months for his club.
This is by far the most experienced bench of the tour, with more caps than the entire 23 for the game against Canada (147 v 126). The coaches will be looking for a big impact as these players join the game for their final minutes of the season.
Officials
Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina); Assistants: Mathieu Raynal and Luc Ramos (both France) TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
After a hugely experienced ref last week, Saturday sees a return to the new generation of officials for the third time on this tour.
Sr. Schneider took charge of a Tier 1 side for the first time in his career when he was the man in the middle for Italy away to Tonga just a couple of weeks ago.
After his last ever game as a referee, Mathieu Raynal has one final duty to attend to as assistant this time round. Given his 'let the boys play' performance in Chile, he might not be expected to make too many interventions on Saturday!
World ranking watch
Current world rankings: 17 Uruguay (67.39) v 6 Scotland (82.82)
Uruguay are the highest ranked side that Scotland have met on their tour of the Americas but there are still no ranking points to be gained for the tourists.
Possible outcomes:
- Win by 16 or more: 0.00
- Win by 15 or fewer: 0.00
- Draw: -1.00
- Loss by 15 or fewer: -2.00
- Loss by 16 or more: -3.00
Miscellany
- The only occasion during the Townsend era when there have been more Glasgow players in the 23 than the 14 selected versus Uruguay was against Samoa in 2017 (when there were 15 involved).
- Nearly 25 years have passed since the only meeting in a full Test match between these two nations, at the 1999 RWC. A Scotland ‘A’ side did beat Los Teros in the 2009 Nations Cup – held in Bucharest.
- Duhan van der Merwe will be hungry for the try that will anoint him as the sole holder of the title as Scotland’s top try scorer. It has taken him just three years, nine months, and five days to get to this point and the only real questions are just how high he will set the bar and if a fully fit Darcy Graham can chase him down.
- Scotland have averaged 8.3 tries per game on this tour with a low of six and high of 11. If they make it to seven on Saturday evening they will bring up 300 tries scored since Gregor Townsend’s first game in charge in June 2017.
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