Lawson and Ford start for Scots

Ross Ford and Rory Lawson will make their first Scotland starts

Scrum-half Rory Lawson will make his first start for Scotland after Chris Cusiter was dropped from the starting line-up to face France on Saturday.

Hooker Ross Ford will also make a starting debut, having been chosen ahead of Dougie Hall as part of five personnel changes for the Paris trip.

Winger Nikki Walker, centre Andrew Henderson and number eight John Beattie will also start the Six Nations game.

Chris Paterson is moved from the wing to take over at full-back.

Interview: Scotland coach Frank Hadden

Captain Paterson - who set two Scotland Six Nations records last week for most points (61) and most penalties (16) in a championship - has been shifted to cover for injury to Hugo Southwell.

Rory Lamont had filled the full-back role for 40 minutes in Saturday's 19-18 defeat by Ireland and hoped to retain the position against France.

But he had admitted that coach Frank Hadden saw him more as a winger and the Glasgow Warriors player remains on the bench.

We have the capacity to play the biggest, most powerful three-quarter line that has ever taken the field wearing Scotland jerseys Frank Hadden

Rob Dewey moves to outside centre in the second positional change.

Also dropping out the starting line-up are Marcus Di Rollo and Dave Callam.

Hadden said: "We are keen to give Ross Ford, Johnnie Beattie and Rory Lawson an opportunity to start a Six Nations match in order for us to learn a bit more about them.

"We are confident in their ability and they get this chance to prove they are capable of starting a game of this importance.

"In pairing Rob Dewey with Andrew Henderson in the centre and also in selecting Nikki Walker, whose qualities will suit the way we wish to play on Saturday, we will have a very big back division, full of pace and power."

Indeed, Hadden believes he has put together the most powerful three-quarter line in Scotland's history.

With Walker and Sean Lamont on the wings alongside Andy Henderson and Rob Dewey in the centre, Hadden has opted for four players with an average weight of around 16-and-a-half stone per man.

That makes them approximately two-and-a-half stone heavier per man than their French counterparts.

"We think that these four guys as a unit could be a formidable physical presence, the likes of which the French will not have come across before," said Hadden.

"It has been in the back of my mind for a long time that we actually have the capacity to play the biggest, most powerful three-quarter line that has ever taken the field wearing Scotland jerseys.

"We have four big, powerful, athletic guys who will undoubtedly ask questions of any backline in the world."

To accommodate the giant backline, Hadden has asked Dewey to move from inside to outside centre, so that Henderson can start in the number 12 jersey.

"He has not played a massive amount of professional rugby games and we felt starting him in a position he was familiar with was the way forward at the time, but he's got a few more games under his belt now," added Hadden.

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Scotland: Paterson (Edinburgh, capt), S Lamont (Northampton), Dewey (Edinburgh), Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), Walker (Ospreys), Parks (Glasgow Warriors), Lawson (Gloucester); Kerr (Border Reivers), Ford (Border Reivers), E Murray (Glasgow Warriors), Hines (Perpignan), S Murray (Edinburgh), Taylor (Edinburgh), J Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), Brown (Border Reivers).
Replacements: Hall (Edinburgh), Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Hamilton (Leicester), Hogg (Edinburgh), Cusiter (Border Reivers), Di Rollo (Edinburgh), R Lamont (Glasgow Warriors).