Preview: Scotland vs France (Saturday, 2:15pm)
Scotland have brought in Rory Darge to start ahead of the dropped Jamie Ritchie as they look to set up a charge towards a Grand Slam against a wounded France.
Ritchie drops out of the squad completely with Jack Dempsey promoted to start at number eight alongside Darge in the back row. Luke Crosbie also drops out of the squad due to injury, with Andy Christie on the bench.
Grant Gilchrist replaces the also injured Richie Gray in the second row, while Finn Russell leads an unchanged backline from fly-half and shares the captaincy with Darge.
France have made only two changes, with Cameron Woki replacing suspended Paul Willemse in the second row and Louis Bielle-Biarrey coming onto the left wing for Yoram Moefana.
“It's tough on Jamie [Ritchie],” Townsend said on the big selection call. “Jamie has been such a good player for us and a leader for us, but we just feel the blend of that starting back row with Andy [Christie] coming off the bench is better suited to France this week.”
During their superb Grand Slam run of 2022 France broke a three-match winning streak for the Scots at home against Les Bleus, though Scotland fought back to win their most recent clash – albeit a slightly less meaningful World Cup warm-up.
After Ireland thumped France last Friday night and Scotland edged out Wales having run up a huge lead, thoughts already turned to the two winners' meeting on the final day being a possible Grand Slam decider.
A win here would firmly place Scotland on the right path to reach Dublin unbeaten, but they know they won't have it all their own way against a French side desperately looking to put things right.
Fabien Galthié has kept his team very similar for Les Bleus, continuing to show faith in Bordeaux-Begles half-back pairing Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert.
Both came under fire for their performances against Ireland, but Galthié will be hoping that his show of “solidarity” with the team and keeping 15 players on the pitch for the duration of the contest – after Willemse's chaotic performance saw him receive a yellow and red card inside the first half last weekend – will be enough to turn things around.
“The players have to feel our trust, and we feel their trust,” Galthié told reporters.
“The idea we had as a coaching staff and leaders' group was to keep the same backbone to the team.
“It's been our project since we've been in charge to have solidarity within the squad and the team in good and bad times,” he added.
Although Scotland got off to a winning start last weekend, there were problems of their own that emerged from that thrilling victory in Cardiff – namely allowing the contest to be so close after they had a 27-0 lead with just over half an hour remaining.
If they have another period as poor as that which saw Wales score 26 unanswered points in 20 minutes they'll be in trouble against what remains a formidable French side, and Townsend was full of praise for Les Bleus in anticipation of an important contest for both teams.
“These kind of games are the biggest we play at home,” Townsend added. “We know we're now playing one of the top teams in the world. We don't need anything else to rise us up and make sure we play close to our best rugby this weekend.”
Scotland: Rowe, Steyn, H Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe, Russell (cc), White; Schoeman, Turner, Z Fagerson, Gilchrist, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge (cc), Dempsey.
Replacements: Ashman, Hepburn, Millar-Mills, Skinner, Christie, G Horne, Healy, Redpath.
France: Ramos, Penaud, Fickou, Danty, Bielle-Biarrey, Jailbert, Lucu; Baille Mauvaka, Antonio, Woki, Gabrillagues, Cros, Ollivon, Alldritt (c).
Replacements: Marchand, Taofifenua, Aldegheri, Tuilagi, Roumat, Boudehent, Le Garrec, Moefana.
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