With Euan Murray unavailable to play on Sunday because of his religious beliefs Geoff Cross starts at tighthead while Laidlaw fills the void left by Dan Parks’ recent retirement from international rugby at stand-off.

Edinburgh fly-half Laidlaw, who can also play at scrum-half, impressed coming off the bench in the 13-6 Calcutta Cup defeat to England and saw a try ruled out by the television match official.

Other than that Robinson opts to retain the same backline and pack that controlled large parts of their contest against England.

But there are several new faces on the bench with prop Ed Kalman, 20-year-old fly-half Duncan Weir and 19-year-old full-back Stuart Hogg all poised to win their first caps after impressive performances in Scotland A’s resounding 35-0 defeat of England Saxons. And Robinson revealed he is excited by the potential of his young guns.

He said: “Congratulations to Greig on his first start.  He is a gifted footballer who is acclimatising very well to the differing demands of the stand-off position from having spent most of his career at scrum-half.

“Having lost last weekend, I believe the time is right to move on and look to develop our emerging talent at stand-off.

“I’ve always stressed the importance of the A team and the part that both Duncan Weir and Stuart Hogg played in the game at Netherdale last week is another reason for my continued excitement and belief in Scottish rugby.”

15. Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors)
14. Lee Jones (Edinburgh Rugby)
13. Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby)
12. Sean Lamont (Scarlets)
11. Max Evans (Castres)
10. Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby)
9. Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors)
1. Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby)
2. Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)
3. Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby)
4. Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
5. Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)
6. Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester)
7. Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby)
8. David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby)

Replacements
16. Scott Lawson (Gloucester)
17. Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors)
18. Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
19. John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)
20. Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby)
21. Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
22. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)