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Giant Scotland rookie Max Williamson admits season has shocked him
Max Williamson is intent on ending a dream first season as a professional by helping Scotland complete a clean sweep of summer tour victories when they face Uruguay in Montevideo on Saturday.
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The 21-year-old lock made his senior debut at club level for Glasgow last November, helped the Warriors towards United Rugby Championship glory and was rewarded for his impressive form with a maiden call-up to Gregor Townsend’s squad for the trip to the Americas.
Williamson (6’7, 120kg) made his debut as a starter against Canada in the first game, came on as a sub against both USA and Chile and is now set to win his fourth cap in the space of a month in Montevideo this weekend.
“It’s been pretty surreal,” said the second-rower. “From making my Glasgow debut earlier this season to where I am now, it’s been quite a journey for me. I’ve loved all of it so far.
“I didn’t see any of this coming to be honest, I’d been quite big on just taking it one week at a time because you never really know what’s going to happen. I’d have laughed at you if you told me at the start of the season everything that was going to happen.”
Williamson’s development has been aided by having senior Scotland second-rowers Richie Gray and Scott Cummings as team-mates at Glasgow.
“It’s brilliant to have both of them,” he said. “Richie’s done pretty much everything in the game and his knowledge and the calmness he brings really helps me.
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“I learn a lot of detail off Scott, he’s been great with me, looking at my performances and helping me kick on. Both of them together, I couldn’t really ask for much better role models.”
Scotland have eased to high-margin victories in each of their three tour matches so far, but Townsend expects Uruguay – who lost 43-28 to France and 79-5 to Argentina earlier this month – to be more difficult.
“We did anticipate Uruguay being the toughest opponent on this tour and we probably still do despite their heavy defeat against Argentina last week,” said the head coach.
“They were the strongest team when we were coming into this tour because of what they did in the World Cup and also because of the games they were going to get prior to playing us, against France and Argentina, so they would be better prepared for playing Test teams.
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“Obviously they didn’t perform that well at the weekend but that could make it a little bit tougher for us because we know we’ll get a reaction from them.
“We’ve got to look at what they did in the World Cup, when they pushed France close, when they were leading against Italy going into the final quarter of the game, and when they played France recently and had opportunities to be ahead in the game, so we’re expecting a real physical team.”
