Morrison in action during last year's victory over England at Murrayfield © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Graeme Morrison

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: Scotland

Scotland centre Graeme Morrison has backed his side to rise to the challenge of defending champions Wales in their Six Nations opener at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Wales arrive in Edinburgh as Grand Slam champions and favourites to retain their Six Nations crown, but Morrison believes Scotland have the potential to cause an upset on the opening weekend of the championship.

Morrison said, "There is no doubt that they have a potent backline but we in the Scottish backline believe in ourselves and we are sure there is a lot of talent there as well. We play these guys regularly in Magners League matches throughout the season so we know what their strengths and weaknesses are.

"We have been working on how we are going to defend and how we are going to attack them, so we are looking forward to putting on a good show."

The Glasgow Warriors player may be adamant the prospect of playing Wales holds no fear, but that does not mean he is oblivious to how difficult the challenge is likely to be. However, he would rather concentrate on the positives.

"Wales are up with the Southern Hemisphere, we saw that with the way they beat Australia," Morrison continued. "They have a potent attacking backline and a few forwards who can score too.

"A lot of emphasis has been put on how good Wales are but we need to focus on our own game. If we get our basics right and do the things we have been told to do, it could be an interesting outcome."

The 26-year-old has been recalled in place of Nick De Luca, having missed the autumn internationals with a knee injury. Having been a frustrated spectator during Scotland's defeats to New Zealand and South Africa, as well as their victory over minnows Canada, he is delighted to be back involved.

He is confident he is returning to a side capable of creating a few ripples in this season's Six Nations. "During the South Africa game in particular we competed for the whole match. Maybe in the past the team might have caved in and let the floodgates open but we saw the commitment the boys had to compete with the world's best for the full 80 minutes," he stressed.

"It was unfortunate that we lost that game but then we saw against Canada the kind of attacking rugby we have not seen from Scotland for a while - granted, it was against inferior opponents, but we are still hoping to build on that. The injury came at a bad time for me but that is a few months back and I've been able to come back and get a good few games for Glasgow."