There was no member of the royal family at Galashiels on Saturday as there had been in Cardiff the previous day but Bill McLaren was there and he is the next best thing in these parts.
What a pity though that only 3,760 other souls turned up to watch two soccer-mad nations try and solve the mysteries of the oval-ball game in the Borders heartland of rugby. Spain may never fill Nou Camp, but the gaps on the banks behind the posts were an indictment of rugby's pretensions to be a global game.
Diego Ormaechea, Uruguay's number eight and captain, scored the first of four Uruguayan tries from a pushover at a scrum midway through the first half. The kicks of Spain's Ukrainian-born out-half Andrei Kovalenco kept his side within reach until two tries in the final three minutes from Alfonso Cardoso and the replacement Juan Menchaca, but the Uruguayan pack was always too strong.
Alfonso Feijoo, Spain's coach, said: "South American teams are always aggressive in the good sense of the word. We knew their scrum was strong and we are working to become better in this phase of the game."
But if Spain struggled against a side made up of 14 amateurs plus the huge Bristol prop Pablo Lemoine, the thought of what punishment South Africa and Scotland will inflict upon them in the next 12 days was enough to prevent the players from celebrating with their supporters.
Uruguay, however, celebrated at the end as if they had won the Webb Ellis Cup.
SCORERS: Spain: Penalties: Kovalenco 5. Uruguay: Tries: Ormaechea, penalty try, Cardoso, Menchaca. Conversions: Aguirre, Sciarra. Penalty: Aguirre.
SPAIN: Angel Frechilla, Ripol, Encisco, Loubsens, Bastide, Kovalenco, Alonso, Malo, C. Souto, Diaz, S. Souto, Miguel Villau, Zapatero, De La Calle, Camps. Replacements: Mata for Bastide (79), Zarzosa for De La Calle (70). Replacements not used: Puertas, Etxebarria, Gallasteghui, Astarloa, Torres.
URUGUAY: Cardoso, Ferres, Vecino, Mendaro, Costabile, Aguirre, Sciarra, Ormaechea, Panizza, Brignoni, Lame, Bado Carlos, Lemoine, Lamelas, Sanchez. Replacements: Menchaca for Aguirre (80), Sosa Diaz for Cardoso (76), Grille for Brignoni (70), de Leon for Vecino (70), Storace for Lemoine (79), De Los Santos for Lamelas (79). Replacements not used: Alzueta.
Referee: C White (England).
