Magners League Official Website : Edinburgh trio win Scotland places

Edinburgh trio win Scotland places

31 January 2006, 1:41 pm

By Jonathan McConnell

Coach Frank Hadden has made three changes to the Scotland team that lost to New Zealand in the autumn for Sunday’s opening RBS 6 Nations Championship match against France at Murrayfield.

Edinburgh's trio Mike Blair Dougie Hall and Alastair Kellock all return with Chris Cusiter, Scot Lawson and Craig Hamilton all missing out

At scrum-half Hadden said: “We are in a most fortunate position to have some real talent there and, as ever, it was a close call. Mike will start against France because he’s in good form. He came on for Chris in the game against New Zealand and did well, so deserves a start.

“It is very much a case of horses for courses and I am sure that Chris will have an opportunity at some point in the championship

“There’s tremendous competition at hooker where Ross Ford is also hammering on the door. We monitored Dougie exceptionally closely during the Autumn Tests and he starts in front of Scott Lawson on this occasion.

“Alastair Kellock has been a key figure for Edinburgh this season. He has nudged himself up the pecking order and is maturing into a powerful and athletic second row.”

At stand-off Dan Parks retains that berth in front of Gordon Ross who did not feature during the autumn. Hadden said: “Dan compared most favourably to the three stand-offs he was up against in the Autumn. “

Jason White will captain Scotland for the fourth time as he wins his 50th cap. Hadden said: “It’s a fantastic milestone for Jason and I congratulate him on becoming the 20th Scot to win 50 or more international caps.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s contest Hadden said: “It’s a mouth-watering prospect playing against arguably one of the top two sides in the world, particularly after we played against one of the other top sides in the world in our last game. The challenge for us is to see what progress we have made since then.”

Scotland: H Southwell (Edinburgh Gunners); C Paterson (Edinburgh Gunners), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh Gunners), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), S Lamont (Northampton Saints); D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh Gunners), G Kerr (Leeds Tykes), D Hall (Edinburgh Gunners), B Douglas (Border Reivers), A Kellock (Edinburgh Gunners), S Murray (Edinburgh Gunners), J White (Sale Sharks), S Taylor (Edinburgh Gunners); A Hogg (Edinburgh Gunners)

Substitutes: S Lawson (Glasgow Warriors), C Smith (Edinburgh Gunners), S MacLeod (Border Reivers), J Petrie (Glasgow Warriors), C Cusiter (Border Reivers), G Ross (Leeds Tykes), S Webster (Edinburgh Gunners)