Scotland Team Named For Six Nations Clash With France In Paris

Stuart Hogg will become the youngest player in history to reach a half century of Scotland caps, in a side that features one change to face France in Paris this Sunday in the RBS Six Nations.

Back-row John Barclay is the only change to the starting Scotland side as a straight replacement for Ryan Wilson, who has failed to recover sufficiently from an elbow infection.

Edinburgh Rugby’s John Hardie, who was due to start against Ulster in the Guinness PRO12 tonight, is named in the vacated place on the bench.

“France in Paris is a monumental challenge. They have improved markedly since Guy Noves took charge and will be smarting since their narrow defeat to England at Twickenham last weekend.” Scotland boss Vern Cotter said.

“We’re their next opportunity to get their campaign up and running and they’ll be intent on throwing every part of their considerable fire power at us this Sunday.

“We’ll have to match their ferocity while ensuring we take that – and all the other battles we can expect in this game – on our terms, whether that’s in collisions, in set-piece, at the breakdown or in the air.

“This will be an excellent test for this group of players: mentally, physically, tactically and of our skillsets under pressure.

“We will need to be at our relentless best once again.”

Scotland team to play France

15. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 49 caps; 15 tries, 3 pens, 84 points
14. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 27 caps; 5 tries, 25 points
13. Huw Jones (Stormers) – 4 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
12. Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps; 6 tries, 30 points
11. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps, 14 tries, 70 points
10. Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps; 2 tries, 3 cons, 1 pen, 19 points
9. Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester) CAPTAIN – 57 caps; 4 tries, 77 cons, 136 pens, 582 points
1. Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby) – 4 caps
2. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
4. Richie Gray (Toulouse) – 61 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 29 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
6. John Barclay (Scarlets) – 56 caps, 4 tries, 20 points
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 6 caps, 1 try, 5 points
8. Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps

Replacements:
16. Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 103 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
17. Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped
19. Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 26 caps
20. John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby) – 13 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap
22. Duncan Weir (Edinburgh Rugby) – 24 caps; 2 tries, 7 cons, 10 pens, 1 drop, 57 points
23. Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 18 caps, 6 tries, 30 points