Scotland coach Andy Robinson has just announced his team to play France on Saturday. He decided to pick a big, powerful pack with lock Nathan Hines moving to the back row in an attempt to record Scotland’s first win in Paris for 12 years.
He has also shaken up the backs, with a new centre partnership in Nick De Luca at 12 and Joe Ansbro at 13 as he tries to unearth the tries that Scotland have found so hard to come by in the last few years.
The result is a strong pack with relatively light-weight but speedy backs, orchestrated by Dan Parks at fly half. Rory Lawson is preferred to Mike Blair at scrum half and there is no place yet for Johnnie Beattie with the Glasgow number eight not considered match-fit enough to return straight into the Scotland side from injury.
The result is three personnel changes and two further changes in position from the side that started against Samoa in Aberdeen in the autumn.
De Luca replaces the injured Graeme Morrison at inside centre, Max Evans moves out to the wing, replacing Sean Lamont and making way for Ansbro at outside centre and the Glasgow lock pair of captain Al Kellock and Richie Gray are installed, with Hines moving to six.
Kelly Brown, normally a flanker, is moved to number eight because of Beattie’s continued absence from the side. Gray and Ansbro will make their first championship starts in the match away to France in Paris on Saturday.
Robinson said: “International rugby is about maintaining forward momentum and, as test matches go, France in the cauldron of Stade de France will be a stern examination.
“I’ve remarked before that Scotland have produced some stirring one-off victories in the championship in the recent past and that what we need to do is produce winning performances consistently.
“We showed last year that that could be achieved following up our win against Ireland with our tour results in Argentina, though we know that we must be 100 per cent on our top game for that aim to be realised.”
Scotland team (sponsor Murray) to play France in the RBS 6 Nations Championship at Stade de France, Paris on Saturday 5 February, kick-off 5pm GMT
15 Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais) 57 caps, 8 tries, 40 points
14 Nikki Walker (Ospreys) 18 caps, 5 tries, 25 points
13 Joe Ansbro (Northampton Saints) 2 caps
12 Nick De Luca (Edinburgh) 19 caps
11 Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors) 15 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
10 Dan Parks (Cardiff Blues) 56 caps, 4 tries, 11 conversions, 42 penalties, 13 drop-goals, 207 points
9 Rory Lawson (Gloucester) 22 caps
1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh) 50 caps
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh) 43 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
3 Euan Murray (Northampton Saints) 35 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
4 Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 6 caps
5 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) CAPTAIN 27 caps
6 Nathan Hines (Leinster) 67 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
8 Kelly Brown (Saracens) 40 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
7 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors) 23 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
Substitutes
16 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors) 33 caps, 1 try, 5 points
17 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps
18 Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors) 6 caps
19 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh) 4 caps
20 Mike Blair (Edinburgh) 66 caps, 5 tries, 25 points
21 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors) 2 caps, 1 penalty, 3 points
22 Sean Lamont (Scarlets) 50 caps, 7 tries, 35 points
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