Scotland opt for consistency against France
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Gregor Brown will make his first Six Nations start for Scotland after the Glasgow lock was included for their tournament finale at leaders France on Saturday.
The 23-year-old, who made his debut against Canada in Ottawa last year and has since won eight caps, takes over in the second row from the benched Jonny Gray.
In the only other change to the starting side, Matt Fagerson comes in at No.8 after Jack Dempsey was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Co-captain and flanker Rory Darge has been passed fit following the hip problem that forced him off during last weekend’s win over Wales.
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has retained the same back division that kicked off in a 35-29 win over Wales at Murrayfield last Saturday, a match where the Scots led 35-8 only to concede several late tries after first-choice players were replaced.
Edinburgh forwards Marshall Sykes and Ben Muncaster could feature in the Six Nations for the first time after being named on a bench where Glasgow backs Kyle Rowe and George Horne are no longer involved after being left out of the matchday 23 announced by Townsend on Thursday.
Scotland, who’ve never finished higher than third in the Six Nations era – their last title came in the final edition of the old Five Nations in 1999 – are currently fourth and effectively out of championship contention once again.
But were the Scots to spring a major surprise by avoiding defeat at the Stade de France, they could have a major say in the destiny of this season’s title.
Townsend, however, speaking after Scotland’s shaky win over Wales, said an away match against France is now “probably the toughest fixture in world rugby”.
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Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (co-captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge (co-captain), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Marshall Sykes, 21 Ben Muncaster, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall
Date: Saturday, March 15
Venue: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Kick-off: 21.00 (20.00 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
