Grimes - who was brought up in a refurbished castle just south of the city - could not disguise his excitement at the prospect of running out onto the turf he worshipped as a schoolboy.

He admitted playing in front of his elderly grandmother will give him the biggest incentive of all to help Scotland pull off their first-ever success against the invitation team.

Newcastle Falcons ace Grimes said: I havent been back to Aberdeen since I was at school there, so the whole occasion is very special for me.

I go up to visit my folks in Stonehaven and a lot of my mates still live in that neck of the woods. But it will give me an enormous buzz to see my grannie in the crowd.

She is too old and frail to make the trek down to Murrayfield to watch me play for Scotland, so this is a tremendous occasion for the whole family.

In addition, as an Aberdeen supporter I have always wanted to play at Pittodrie. I went to lots of Dons matches as a kid and dreamed about getting onto that pitch.

I have a few chums who are absolutely crazy about Aberdeen and they are intensely jealous of me getting the chance to play there.

Scotland record-breaker Kenny Logan will make a solo entry to the big stage for the last time when he goes into battle for the Barbarians against his old Test team-mates.

Logan was named by coach Bob Dwyer as one of the subsititutes, while former Scotland captain Bryan Redpath will be in the starting line-up at scrum-half.

A Baa Baas spokesman said: We felt that it was such a special occasion for Kenny that the best plan was for him to come off the bench during the match.

That will give the supporters the opportunity to show their appreciation for what he has achieved in a dark blue jersey.

Redpath, who retired from the international scene along with Logan after the 2003 World Cup in Australia, got the go-ahead from Dwyer to start in spite of being involved in Sale Sharks European Challenge Cup triumph over Pau at Oxford on Saturday.

Veteran Ireland stand-off David Humphreys will skipper the Barbarians, who also feature world-rated stars such as Matt Burke, Andre Venter and Semo Sititi.

Teams for the Scotland v Barbarians match at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen.

Scotland: C Paterson (Edinburgh); R Lamont (Glasgow), M di Rollo (Edinburgh), A Henderson, S Lamont (both Glasgow); G Ross (Leeds), M Blair; A Jacobsen (both Edinburgh), S Lawson (Glasgow), B Douglas (Borders), S Grimes (Newcastle), S Murray (Edinburgh), K Brown (Borders), A Hogg (Edinburgh), J Petrie (Glasgow, capt).

Replacements: D Hall (Edinburgh), E Murray (Glasgow), C Hamilton (Newcastle), A Wilson, G Beveridge, D Parks (all Glasgow), H Southwell (Edinburgh).

Barbarians: G Dempsey (Ireland); B Lima (Samoa), M Burke (Australia), K Maggs (Ireland), S Bobo (Fiji); D Humphreys (Ireland, capt), B Redpath (Scotland); A Lo Cicero (Italy), F Sheahan (Ireland), D Morris (Wales), Gary Longwell (Ireland), A Venter (South Africa), O Finegan (Australia), Semo Sititi (Samoa), E Miller (Ireland).

Replacements: R Ibanez (France), C Visagie, S Boome (both South Africa), J OConnor (Ireland), M Robinson (New Zealand), T Castaignede (France), K Logan (Scotland).