Experienced winger Christophe Dominici is dropped in favour of Cedric Heymans, while Pierre Mignoni returns at scrum-half in place of Dimitri Yachvili, who is not in the squad after struggling against England.

There is only one change in a pack that was outplayed at Twickenham last Sunday, Biarritzs Imanol Harinordoquy coming in at number eight in place of Sebastien Chabal.
David Skrela will be fly-half if he passes a fitness test on Thursday.

If he fails, his Stade Francais team-mate Lionel Beauxis will come in to make his first start of the Six Nations. Damien Traille will then be named on the bench, as cover for the fly-half and centre positions.

Number eight Elvis Vermeulen, named in the squad in place of Sales Chabal, has to be content with a place on the bench.

Les Bleus are level on six points with Ireland and England going into the final round of RBS 6 Nations fixtures.

With the English - who have an inferior points difference - playing away at Wales on Saturday, it appears to be a straight shootout between France and Ireland, with points difference set to be crucial.

The Irish take on Italy in Rome in Saturdays opening match.

The France team to play Scotland in the RBS 6 Nations Championship on Saturday:

C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); V Clerc (Toulouse), D Marty (Perpignan), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), C Heymans (Toulouse); D Skrela (Stade Francais), P Mignoni (Clermont-Auvergne); O Milloud (Bourgoin), R Ibanez (Wasps, capt), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), L Nallet (Castres), J Thion (Biarritz), S Betsen (Biarritz), J Bonnaire (Bourgoin), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: N Mas (Perpignan), S Bruno (Sale), P Pape (Castres), E Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse), L Beauxis (Stade Francais)/D Traille (Biarritz), C Dominici (Stade Francais).