Kelly Brown will lead Scotland out against England © PA Photos

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Players/Officials: Kelly Brown

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: Saracens | Scotland

Back-row Kelly Brown will skipper Scotland against England on Saturday in their Six Nations opener.

Brown skippered Scotland during the autumn series where his side lost all three matches. But despite the change in coach, with Scott Johnson taking over from Andy Robinson on an interim basis, Johnson has opted to keep the Saracens back-rower as skipper.

"It was right and proper that the coaches considered captaincy at the same time as we were looking at selection of our squad for the England game," Johnson said."We believe Kelly has the qualities we're looking for to captain Scotland.

"Captaincy is about deed in my book, not Churchillian oratory, and the knowledge and experience that Kelly brings to the Test match arena is good for this team. We are also looking at our leadership group and I'll be naming two vice-captains in the team that we announce tomorrow."

Brown was named as skipper in the run up to last season's Six Nations by Robinson but he missed the campaign due to injury. But he is now fit and firing and is relishing the chance to continue as skipper.

"As I said back in November, it's a huge honour to captain Scotland," Brown said. "The job now, though, is to work with all the other players in the squad to deliver a performance to make the country proud this weekend.

"It's a while since I've played against England. I missed out through injury in last year's Six Nations and I was sidelined during the Rugby World Cup match in Auckland as well, so I'm really raring to go,"

Johnson has also trimmed his 35-man training squad to 27 ahead of Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash. Glasgow's Sean Maitland is retained and could make his debut against England at Twickenham.

Revised Scotland squad:

Forwards: Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, David Denton, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist (all Edinburgh), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), Robert Harley, Alastair Kellock, Moray Low, Pat MacArthur (all Glasgow Warriors), Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) and Alasdair Strokosoch (Perpignan)

Backs: Max Evans (Castres), Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne, Ruaridh Jackson (all Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Peter Murchie, Henry Pyrgos (all Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott and Tim Visser (both Edinburgh Rugby)