Eric Peters has urged the Scotland selectors to keep their nerve and stick with the squad who have made such a disastrous start to the Six Nations campaign.

Coach Ian McGeechan will tomorrow announce his party for the clash with France at Murrayfield on March 4.

After defeats in Italy and Ireland, there have been widespread calls for the axe to fall on a number of his big name players, including the likes of Kenny Logan and Bryan Redpath, who skippered the side on Saturday in the absence of John Leslie.

Injuries to front row duo Gordon Bulloch and George Graham mean McGeechan will have to freshen his squad to face the French.

Peters' former Bath team-mate Andy Nicol is in line to replace Redpath in the starting line-up but young guns Chris Paterson and Alan Bulloch could also earn a call-up as the Scottish selectors desperately search for the winning formula.

However former Scotland captain Peters, who witnessed the Dublin debacle at first hand, doesn't believe wholesale changes will bring a change in Scotland's fortunes.

"The clamour for changes has started because we have had two bad results and not just one," said Peters, an automatic choice at number eight for Scotland and Bath until he fractured his knee-cap against Leicester last season.

"We were totally in control against Ireland and the game just slipped away.

"But it doesn't necessarily mean that the personnel have become bad players.

"Confidence is such a big thing in every rugby game and last season we built our confidence up as the tournament went on.

"You can see that the confidence has dropped dramatically in the last couple of games but it can come back."

Peters is currently continuing his rehabilitation but it will be the start of next season at least before he is ready to resume his international career.

In the meantime, he must continue to watch in frustration from the sidelines.

"The guys will be very down after what has happened in the first two games but they have to draw strength from the situation and make themselves even more determined," he said.

"If you think the media and the supporters wanted Scotland to win on Saturday, it doesn't compare with how the players feel.

"But the reaction has been a little bit over the top and that has to be recognised.

"On paper, Scotland were playing the two easiest teams in the competition but they were also playing two away games.

"We have beaten Ireland in previous years but never by that much and against Italy we were caught out by a surge of passion.

"Now Scotland are being criticised while Ireland are approaching a golden future.

"The reality for both is somewhere in the middle and the players and management must keep that in mind."

The fact remains however, that unless Scotland can cause an upset in their final three matches of the competition, just as in 1985 they will be heading for a wooden spoon wipe-out 12 months after being crowned champions.

It is not a thought which particularly appeals to Peters and one he hopes the Scots can avoid.

"For all the years I have been involved with Scotland, we have always been the underdogs," he said.

"Maybe being talked up as potential champions wasn't a healthy position for us to be in.

"But it has also always been the case that any Scotland side at its very best can win, whoever they are playing.

"The English and French can still win matches even when they are not quite on top form.

"For Scotland, there is a fine dividing line between winning and losing and looking at the three games we have remaining, we have made it hard for ourselves.

"Some of the experience from previous seasons is missing but it is up to the younger guys to come through and take the lead."