Grant Gilchrist, the 22-year-old Edinburgh Rugby lock, will win his first cap for Scotland in Saturday’s final 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship match against France in Paris.
Gilchrist, the 6ft 8ins product of the Alloa and Stirling County clubs, replaces the injured Richie Gray who is expected to be out for around 8 weeks. He also leapfrogs not only Al Kellock to a starting slot but also possible candidates from Glasgow in Tom Ryder and Tim Swinson who are both having fine seasons.
The only other change to the starting line-up sees the experienced Alasdair Strokosch preferred to Rob Harley at blindside flanker. There is no sign of John Barclay, the only fit openside option, suggesting Johnson is happy to compete as is at the breakdown with France often without a “fetching” openside themselves.
Strokosch had started the championship in the number six jersey but injury in the opening match against England at Twickenham sidelined him from Scotland’s next three outings. He may be back in also to provide familiarity with the opposition. Although Harley has had his moments, at times he struggled to impose himself against Wales at the breakdown and the Big Stroker will be looking to remedy that.
Gilchrist, a winner of the 2011 Macphail Scholarship – which saw him play club rugby in New Zealand – was an unused replacement on the bench when Scotland lost to Tonga in Aberdeen in November.
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.
“We’ve got to get our basics right. We’ve 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.
“I’ve been impressed with Gilco. I’ve 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.
“We’re 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.”
With the French centres likely to feature Bastareaud and Fofana, it was unlikely that Johnson would throw in Horne or Dunbar (or both) for this match with Scott and Lamont proving reliable in defence so far without having had a chance to set the heather on fire since the Italy game – where they both shone. His development brief should see them on the summer tour, possibly at the expense of Max Evans who has struggled for game time this tournament.
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 points
14 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 points
10 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 points
1 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 points
Substitutes
16 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 points
23 Max Evans (Castres) 34 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
Not considered due to injury: Alasdair Dickinson and Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Chris Cusiter and Chris Fusaro (both Glasgow Warriors), David Denton and Ross Rennie (both Edinburgh Rugby) and Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby).
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales). Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland) and Lourens Van Der Merwe (South Africa). TMO: Carlo Damasco (Italy)