The Edinburgh lock, who missed the win over Italy, comes in for Glasgow captain Alastair Kellock.

Head coach Frank Hadden yesterday delayed finalising his 22 for this weekend’s match at Murrayfield to give Hamilton and fellow second row Nathan Hines more time to prove their fitness.

Hines has been named on the bench and could make his first appearance of the championship after recovering from a knee injury.

Hadden said: “Both Jim Hamilton and Nathan Hines have emerged unscathed from a tough couple of days’ training and Jim will be back in the starting line-up, with Nathan on the bench.

“We are delighted to have players of this quality available to us, but equally delighted that Alastair Kellock made it such a difficult decision for us by the quality of his performance against Italy.”

Kellock drops out of the 22 altogether, while the final spot on the bench is filled by Edinburgh centre Nick De Luca.

Scotland team to play Ireland in the RBS 6 Nations at Murrayfield on Saturday, March 14, 5pm:

C Paterson (Edinburgh); S Danielli (Ulster), M Evans (Glasgow), G Morrison (Glasgow), T Evans (Glasgow); P Godman (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Dickinson (Gloucester), R Ford, (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), J White (Sale), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Strokosch (Gloucester), J Barclay (Glasgow), S Taylor (Stade Francais).

Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow), M Low (Glasgow), N Hines (Perpignan), S Gray (Northampton), C Cusiter (Perpignan), N De Luca (Edinburgh), H Southwell (Edinburgh).