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Gregor Townsend eyes cleansweep : 'They were very good in the World Cup'
By PA
Gregor Townsend has challenged Scotland to finish their summer tour of the Americas with a clean sweep of victories next weekend.
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The Scots followed up wins over Canada and the United States with an eight-try 52-11 destruction of Chile in Santiago on Saturday night in which both Kyle Rowe and Jamie Dobie scored doubles and Josh Bayliss, Matt Currie, Dylan Richardson and Kyle Steyn also crossed the whitewash.
Townsend’s side conclude the tour against Uruguay in Montevideo on Saturday, although the head coach will only be able to select a team of Scottish-based players because it falls outside the designated Test window.
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“It will be a new challenge, none of us have been to Uruguay before,” he said. “They were very good in the World Cup, I was really impressed with them against France and they pushed Italy close as well.
“They’ve had some matches (this month), they’ve played France and Argentina, so they’re battle-hardened, they’ll have a cohesive team and we’ll have a new team.
“We’ve got a number of players leaving to go back home but the group that’s still going to be here can’t wait to play against Uruguay and finish the tour and the season on a real high.”
After handing out a raft of debuts earlier in the tour, Townsend gave a maiden international appearance to Edinburgh hooker Patrick Harrison who came off the bench in the 47th minute in Santiago.
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“I’m really pleased for Patrick,” he said. “He’s had to wait three weeks for his game but he’s trained really well and he showed a fair bit of what he’s been doing well in training: really accurate line-outs, strong maul carrying and really good energy in attack and defence.”
