Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has admitted that he has almost decided his 15-man team for the Six Nations opener against France in Paris.

McGeechan ran the rule over his players for the final squad training session
at Murrayfield on Monday but will scrutinise his options in certain areas before paring down his squad.

McGeechan insists that he has already decided on his captain but will name him alongside the 22-man squad for the game against the French next Thursday.

``There are one or two positions where we want to keep having a look , another
weekend would not do any harm , particularly for what we want to do against France. We will be looking carefully at certain positions next week before we finalise the 22. The captaincy is pretty much sorted out but we will name him with the squad."

``You want stability and you want players playing well. There are areas of the team where we would look hard at the opposition as to which we think is the best combination. There are some quality options there for us and we have to find the best balance for who we are playing.''

But McGeechan admits that there could be a return to action for both Glenn
Metcalfe and John Leslie in the tournament. Metcalfe has barely featured for either Scotland or Glasgow Caledonians since the summer tour of New Zealand.

However, McGeechan is encouraged that Leslie has been playing regularly for
the Northampton second string. ``I spoke to Northampton to see the situation,'' said McGeechan. ``He (Leslie) could not play in Europe because he wasn't qualified, but he played against Gloucester and is playing for the second team every week."

``The important thing is the fact that he is just playing matches. He will
have played four games this month, which is important. As everyone knows, there is nothing like playing. Ultimately, that is what will bring us up to speed.''