Nathan Hines starts at blindside for Scotland © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

News: Parks targets first win in Paris

News: Robinson dismisses try-scoring doubts

News: Barclay unfazed by high profile

News: Hines ready to 'tear into' France

Features: Pressure building on Lièvremont

News: Lievremont admits France playing catch-up

Head to Head: Scots eye end to French dominance

Players/Officials: Nathan Hines | Andy Robinson

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: France | Scotland

Scotland boss Andy Robinson has shuffled his pack for Saturday's Six Nations opener against France, with Leinster's Nathan Hines selected at blindside.

Skipper Alastair Kellock returns to the second-row while Saracens' Kelly Brown takes the No.8 jersey ahead of Johnnie Beattie, who misses out on the 22 after his recent return from injury.

In the backs, Nick De Luca returns at inside-centre to deputise for the injured Graeme Morrison and Max Evans is preferred to Sean Lamont on the wing. Northampton's Joe Ansbro is retained at outside-centre while the Ospreys' Nikki Walker is also named out wide.

"International rugby is about maintaining forward momentum and, as Test matches go, France in the cauldron of Stade de France will be a stern examination," Robinson said.

"I've remarked before that Scotland have produced some stirring one-off victories in the Championship in the recent past and that what we need to do is produce winning performances consistently.

"We showed last year that that could be achieved following up our win against Ireland with our tour results in Argentina, though we know that we must be 100% on our top game for that aim to be realised."

Scotland: H Southwell (Stade Francais); N Walker (Ospreys), J Ansbro (Northampton Saints), N De Luca (Edinburgh), M Evans (Glasgow Warriors); D Parks (Cardiff Blues), R Lawson (Gloucester); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Newcastle), R Gray (Glasgow Warriors), A Kellock (Glasgow Warriors, captain), N Hines (Leinster), K Brown (Saracens), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors).

Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow Warriors), M Low (Glasgow Warriors), R Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), R Rennie (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh), R Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), S Lamont (Scarlets)