The versatile Edinburgh player had a nightmare at full-back in the thrashing at the hands of South Africa during the autumn.

But Williams has kept faith with the 24-year-old, who will win his eighth cap, and paired him with Andy Craig in a new partnership for the daunting Stade de France clash.

Williams said: We made it pretty clear that the area we needed to work on was attack and going forward with ball in hand.

That obviously has a fair amount to do with the centres and Craig had a difficult period coming back from injury and weve been monitoring him very closely.

He didnt have enough games under his belt to take place during the autumn international so hes earned his opportunity.

We also felt that Hugos play with ball in hand since he came into the side has been exceptional.

His courage in defence is also exceptional and he has been used almost sparingly at Edinburgh, either starting or during the match, as a centre.

The tactical side also comes in and we have been desperate to find a key left-footer in the back-line for exactly those reasons.

Williams defended his decision further, claiming the player has been working on certain aspects of his game for a while.

Its not something that we just decided on a week ago. Its been something weve been on at Hugo about for some time and work on it in practice, he said.

Hes been part of the squad for six months and hes been given that opportunity at Edinburgh for certain periods for us to have a look at.

Its comforting to know about his skills and what he can do. I just said to Frank (Hadden, Edinburgh coach) to play him there when the opportunity arose and I am grateful.

The whole country has focused on that last game and quite rightly but hes also played extremely well for a number of games.

His performances in Australia and against Australia were very, very good so I have no qualms about playing him anywhere.

His courage and the way he tackles was great. Hugo knows he made mistakes and we told him and nobody cares more about his mistakes than he does.

But you dont stray away from a player on one bad performance and were certainly not going to do that.

Im sure Hugo has forgotten about South Africa and he cant wait to get out there. We want him to show the same courage and commitment, especially in defence, that he has displayed in the past. We just want him to be himself.