Gregor Townsend to send five or six Scotland players home as he trims squad for Argentina

Gregor Townsend was impressed with the contribution of his younger players in the convincing 44-5 win over Chile, but the Scotland coach will have some bad news to deliver over the next couple of days.

Matt Currie was one of six uncapped players who featured in Scotland A's 45-5 win over Chile in Santiago. (Photo by JAVIER TORRES/AFP via Getty Images)

Five or six members of the squad will fly home as Townsend trims his touring party ahead of the three-Test series in Argentina.

Scotland have travelled to Buenos Aires and will spend a few days in the Argentinian capital before heading north-west to San Salvador de Jujuy, venue for Saturday’s first Test.

Six uncapped players got a run-out in the A international in Santiago and it is likely the majority of them will be in the group which heads home early.

“Not everyone who played [against Chile] will play against Argentina but it is good for young players to come on a Scotland tour and train and play for their country and go back next season to their clubs with things that they want to build on or improve,” said Townsend.

“We will have a group of five or six players – we haven’t decided on the numbers yet – that will leave. We go up to Jujuy on Wednesday afternoon after being in Buenos Aires for three, four days, and there will be a group that won’t come up with us so our squad will either be 33 or 34 come Wednesday evening.”

Ben Muncaster, Ollie Smith and Matt Currie were the three uncapped players who started against Chile, with Johnny Matthews, Murphy Walker and Glen Young coming off the bench in the second half.

None of Scotland’s English-based players were available because the match in Santiago was played outside the international window, but they have now joined the squad. Townsend said he already had a good idea about his starting XV to face the Pumas.

“We are 90 per cent sure of the team we are going out with next week,” said the coach. “There were some places to play for [against Chile], more on the bench than the starting team, and we now have our English-based players with us.”

The English-based players now available to Townsend are forwards Ewan Ashman, Andy Christie, Jonny Gray, Sam Skinner and Rory Sutherland, and backs Rory Hutchinson, Kyle Rowe, Duhan van der Merwe and Ben White.