Hugo Southwell is forced out by the shoulder injury he sustained in Scotlands 19-18 defeat against Ireland, while Dougie Hall, Chris Cusiter, Marcus Di Rollo and Dave Callam are dropped.

Scrum-half Rory Lawson and hooker Ross Ford will both start an international for the first time, while wing Nikki Walker is included along with centre Andrew Henderson and number eight John Beattie.

Walker has not been named in a Scotland XV for five years but fits the bill for head coach Frank Hadden this weekend.

Captain Chris Paterson moves from the wing to full-back, where Rory Lamont had been tipped to start. Lamont is forced to settle for a place on the bench, where Hall, Cusiter and Di Rollo also feature.

Hadden said: We are keen to give Ross Ford, Johnnie Beattie and Rory Lawson an opportunity to start a Six Nations match in order for us to learn a bit more about them.

We are confident in their ability and they get this chance to prove they are capable of starting a game of this importance.

In pairing Rob Dewey with Andrew Henderson in the centre and also in selecting Nikki Walker, whose qualities will suit the way we wish to play on Saturday, we will have a very big back division, full of pace and power.

Scotland will be looking to finish their disappointing campaign on a high against top-of-the-table France, having lost three of four matches so far.

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

C Paterson (Edinburgh, captain), S Lamont (Northampton), R Dewey (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), N Walker (Ospreys), D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), R Lawson (Gloucester); G Kerr (Borders), R Ford (Borders), E Murray (Glasgow Warriors), N Hines (Perpignan), S Murray (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Edinburgh), J Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), K Brown (Borders).

Substitutes: D Hall (Edinburgh), A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), J Hamilton (Leicester), A Hogg (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Borders), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh), R Lamont (Glasgow Warriors).