Stuart Hogg will be the first teenager to start for Scotland since fellow Hawick alumnus Jim Renwick 40 years ago, as Andy Robinson again shook up his lineup in search of a precious first win in the 2012 Six Nations.
France, with only a single loss at Murrayfield in the last seven visits, will face another rejigged backline on Sunday and yet another change at scrum-half with Mike Blair reinstated to join Greig Laidlaw.
Graeme Morrison, discarded after the World Cup, is back at inside centre while Hogg, a standout for an hour in Cardiff when replacing the injured Max Evans, gets the start at just 19.
Up front John Barclay, also confined to bench duty since New Zealand, replaces the injured Al Strokosch, with Robinson wanting to ramp the game to top speed.
”The way we want to play the game, it’s important to keep the ball for many phases,” he said, pointing out that the ball has been in play for 40 minutes in Scotland’s first two games, significantly higher than average.
He said: ”We believe if we can keep the ball in play through multi-phases, we can test them and test their fitness.
”We do need a referee that doesn’t allow France to slow the game down, but on top of that we need our carriers, Sean Lamont, Richie Gray, Ross Ford and now Graeme Morrison as well, to take the game to them.
”Graeme and Sean against (Wesley) Fofana and (Aurelien) Rougerie that’s a phenomenal battle in midfield.
”John Barclay is in at six for Al Strokosch, and we feel John’s pace and instincts as opposed to Richie Vernon, Stuart McInally and Rob Harley, who came into the discussion, will help us get the quick ball.”’Step-by-step progression’Blair for Cusiter, the seventh change of scrum-half in a year, is down to Blair playing better than his rival in Cardiff rather than teaming him with clubmate Laidlaw.
”We’re the leading passing side in the tournament, and also leading in off-loads,” said Robinson when questioned whether the new midfield, the 11th change in combination since they last played France, signalled that Scotland would not play wide.
He said: ”We’ve picked a team to beat France. We have other strategies to move the ball wide including bringing in Stuart (Hogg). I’m delighted for him.
”You’ll see it’s been a step-by-step progression he came into the St Andrews training camp and did really well, played in the Saxons game and was exemplary there and then came off the bench in Cardiff and we saw a really composed performance.”
Robinson has confidence in Hogg’s ability to withstand the pressure of international rugby and in the way his team are approaching the game, dismissing the suggestion that he might walk away if Scotland continue to fail as ”hypothetical discussions”.
He said: ”My focus is on this next game, nothing more.
”We’ve been punished for the errors we’ve made, but I don’t see those as structural errors, I don’t see them as faults in the framework of how we’re trying to play. I have full confidence in what we’re doing.”Own possession ‘crucial’France, however, offer a fundamental challenge for Scotland, and Robinson admitted that Scotland were ”destroyed” in the scrummage last year in Paris.
He said: ”That’s the right word to use they scored a penalty try.
”We analysed that and saw that it was because we scrummaged as individuals, not as a collective unit of eight.
”France are at their best moving the ball, but the one area where you are definitely tested is setpiece.
”To secure our own possession is crucial for the way we want to play.”
Team: Stuart Hogg, Rory Lamont (both Glasgow), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow), Lee Jones, Greig Laidlaw, Mike Blair; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford (captain), Geoff Cross (all Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Glasgow), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), John Barclay (Glasgow), Ross Rennie, David Denton (both Edinburgh).Replacements: Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Ed Kalman, Alastair Kellock (both Glasgow), Richie Vernon (Sale), Chris Cusiter, Duncan Weir (both Glasgow), Nick de Luca (Edinburgh).
Photo by Graham Stuart/PA Wire