Argentina v Scotland: Townsend must find balance between game-time and ensuring Scots win the series

Gregor Townsend has used the tour of Argentina to expose as many of his squad as possible to Test-match rugby, but the Scotland coach knows he has to strike a balance.

If the series is lost it will be of little comfort that a few fringe players have gained experience on the international stage. Townsend has been around long enough to realise that such a scenario provides no insulation against criticism.

He has changed more than half his team for Saturday’s third Test decider in Santiago del Estero and there will be debut outings for full-back Ollie Smith and lock Glen Young, the latter from the bench. There is also a first start for Ewan Ashman, the hooker, and a likely first Test sighting on this tour of scrum-half George Horne, who is among the substitutes.

If Young and Horne play it will mean that 33 of the 34-strong squad will have featured in a Test. The odd man out is Murphy Walker but, at 21, the Glasgow Warriors prop has time on his side.

Making as many as eight changes could be construed as risky but Argentina have gone further, retaining only four of the side that went down 29-6 in Salta. Michael Cheika hasn’t so much swung the axe as scythed down the forest.

Edinburgh’s Emiliano Boffelli is among the quartet to keep his place but shifts from full-back to left wing. The others are second-row Guido Petti, stand-off Santiago Carreras and centre Matias Orlando. Cheika is giving a debut to scrum-half Lautaro Bazán Vélez, part of Argentina’s Olympic bronze medal-winning sevens squad in Tokyo last summer.

Scotland were caught cold in the first Test defeat in Jujuy, barely laying a glove on their opponents in the first half. The second match was a role reversal, with the Pumas strangely lethargic against tourists who