Nations Championship: Scotland face arduous July Tests

Although the logistics and level of opposition make this a daunting tour for Scotland, it is a challenge they are relishing.

While England, Ireland, Wales and others have been tourists to the southern hemisphere fairly regularly, Scotland have not.

Summers have mostly been filled with development tours to North and South America, which has allowed some players to break on to the Test stage.

However, they have not given them the chance to develop the battle-hardened edge that can be gained on away trips to storied venues like Eden Park or Loftus.

Scotland have not played the Springboks on their own patch since 2014. They have never beaten them on South African soil. Now they will be given the opportunity to.

Argentina ransacked Murrayfield in November, coming from 21-0 down to win. The last time Scotland toured there, in 2022, the Pumas won the series 2-1.

Fiji also beat Scotland in Suva last summer, albeit while the visitors were missing several players on duty with the British and Irish Lions.

Townsend says, although he enjoyed bringing through players on previous tours, this one is “not really about development”.

There could scarcely be a harder test of Scotland’s skills and depth. Only Grant Gilchrist and Blair Kinghorn have been given the summer off to rest.

“It does feel like a preparation for a World Cup with playing those top nations, the top 10 nations this summer for us, two in the top five,” Townsend said.

“That’s what we’re going to have to face at some point as we get closer to the knockouts in the World Cup.

“We’ll get our development through our games and the experiences we’ll have in our games. But it’s about putting our best performance out in those games and our best players will give us more chance of doing that.”