Preview: Chile v Scotland

What they said

Head coach Gregor Townsend said: “During the World Cup, Chile showed a lot of skill. They break a lot of tackles, they run the ball from anywhere.

“I’m sure they’ll score a try or two at the weekend just with the ability they have, so we have to limit their attacking threat. It’s a massive game for them, playing in the national stadium, playing a Six Nations team here at home so we have to understand that the physicality and passion that they bring will be at a high level.

“But it’s also about us bringing our game, and making sure we improve from the USA game and making sure we get an 80-minute performance.”

The previous meetings

The only previous meeting between the two nations was in 2022, when a Scotland A side were 45-5 winners at Estadio Nacional. From the 23 that day, Matt Currie, Sione Tuipulotu and Pierre Schoeman are the only ones involved again tomorrow.

The team

The stats

• Scotland opted to attack the openside of the pitch from a higher share of their attacking phases than any other side in the 2023 Rugby World Cup (96%), while Chile opted to attack the blindside more frequently than any other side in the competition (16%).
• Scotland have won 12 of their previous 23 Test matches against South American opposition (L11), with each of their last two such victories both coming against Argentina by margins of exactly 23 points – 22 of their previous 23 such games have been against Argentina, with the only exception being a 43-12 victory against Uruguay in the pool stages of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
• Scotland have won each of their last two Test matches by margins of 61 and 35 points respectively and should they beat Chile by a margin of 30+ points, it would be the first time that they have won three consecutive Tests by such a margin since 1995.