De Luca returns to Scottish midfield
Nick de Luca was recalled by Scotland on Tuesday to face Ireland in Saturday’s Six Nations international in Dublin.
Edinburgh midfielder de Luca was the only change to the starting team beaten 23-17 by France at Murrayfield last month, having come off the bench against the World Cup finalists.
De Luca came in at outside centre with Sean Lamont moving to his more accustomed wing berth in place of his injured younger brother Rory, who suffered a broken leg against France.
Castres back Max Evans, cleared of an assault charge at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, is on the bench after recovering from an ankle injury.
Euan Murray, who missed the Sunday defeat by France for religious reasons, is also among the replacements along with Glasgow playmaker Ruaridh Jackson, recently fit-again following a hamstring injury.
Scotland have lost their last five Tests, a run dating back to the World Cup, and will be desperate to end that sequence against Ireland after an improved performance last time out still resulted in another frustrating loss.
“We did many good things in the game against France but we need to be better, especially in our accuracy and execution at breakdown, in order to beat Ireland,” Scotland coach Andy Robinson said Tuesday.
“If we do the basic things well and are ruthless in contact then we can put ourselves in a position to defeat a very good Ireland team,” added the former England flanker and coach, who has won just two of his 13 Six Nations matches in charge of Scotland.
Ireland, who drew 17-17 with France in Paris last weekend, are due to name their side on Wednesday.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick de Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Greig Laidlaw, 9 Mike Blair, 8 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford (captain), 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Euan Murray, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Max Evans.
Date: Saturday, March 10
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 17.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite, Greg Garner (England)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
AFP
