Scotland Team To Face France

There are 11 Warriors in the Scotland squad to face France in Paris on Saturday, with five starting and six on the bench.For the final 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship match, Duncan Weir retains his place at fly-half, while Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland and Stuart Hogg keep their places in the backs. Alasdair Strokosch is preferred to Rob Harley at blindside flanker, with Ryan Grant also in the starting XV.Captain Alastair Kellock has been named on the bench, along with teammates Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Ryan Wilson, Henry Pyrgos and Ruaridh Jackson.Edinburgh Rugby’s Grant Gilchrist will win his first cap for Scotland in the second row, replacing the injured Richie Gray.Scotland interim head coach Scott Johnson said: We have made some progress in this championship and it would be ideal to cement that by a winning performance in Paris. But the needle is stuck in the same groove as far as my view on Saturday’s Test.Weve got to get our basics right. Weve got to win the contact area, be disciplined in our approach, and get some front-foot ball for our backs. We also want to end the championship on a high.Ive been impressed with Gilcho. Ive spoken of form and future and he fits the bill in the latter category but he’s also keen as mustard and we want to look at him in the company of a very good French side.We looked at every position in detail after last weekend and we reckoned that Strokosch’s experience gave him the nod in the back-row.Were not reading much at all into where France are in the table. France are wounded right now and we expect them to come out all guns blazing on Saturday.But the target for us is to concentrate on our game and aim to be as high up the table as possible come full-time in Paris. Scotland team to play France in the RBS 6 Nations Championship at Stade de France, Paris on Saturday 16 March (kick-off 8pm GMT)15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) 14 caps, 3 tries, 15 points14 Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors) 4 caps, 1 try, 5 points 13 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) 75 caps, 9 tries, 45 points 12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) 11 caps, 1 try, 5 points 11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby) 9 caps, 5 tries, 25 points10 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) 4 caps, 1 conversion, 2 points 9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) vice-captain, 17 caps, 2 tries, 16 conversions and 36 penalties, 150 points1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) vice-captain, 9 caps 2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) 67 caps, 2 tries, 10 points 3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) 52 caps, 2 tries, 10 points 4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped (Scotland cap number 1039) 5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester) 45 caps, 1 try, 5 points 6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) 31 caps, 1 try, 5 points 7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) captain, 56 caps, 4 tries, 20 points 8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier) 20 caps, 3 tries, 15 pointsSubstitutes16 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors) 41 caps, 1 try, 5 points 17 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors) 17 caps 18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby) 20 caps, 1 try, 5 points 19 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 51 caps, 1 try, 5 points 20 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) 1 cap 21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 5 caps, 1 try, 5 points 22 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors) 19 caps, 2 conversions, 2 penalties, 2 drop-goals, 16 points23 Max Evans (Castres) 34 caps, 3 tries, 15 points