Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend expects ‘reaction’ from Uruguay

Tom English, BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer

Though losing on Saturday would be an almighty shock for Scotland, Uruguay should prove to be the toughest of their summer opponents.

They went down 79-5 against Argentina last weekend but competed well in a 43-28 defeat by France before that. They were impressive in defeat against France and Italy in World Cup games last autumn.

So far on tour, Scotland have defeated Canada, the United States and Chile.

“They played France two weeks ago and then Argentina at the weekend, so they’re better prepared to play Test teams,” Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said of Uruguay.

“Now, they didn’t perform that well at the weekend, so that often makes it a little bit tougher for you because you know you’re going to get a reaction from them.

“We’ve got to make sure our players look at what they did in the World Cup when they pushed France close and were leading against Italy going into the final quarter of the game.

“When they played France just recently they had opportunities to be ahead in the game. So, we’re expecting a really physical team – they’re strong around the tackle area, they get a lot of jackal turnovers, they come off the line in defence and they’re a big pack. They scored a push over try against France 10 days ago so it will be a test for our forwards at the weekend.”