Skrela has been a key performer for the French throughout this seasons campaign but was forced to pull out of the team when he failed a fitness test on Thursday.

The Stade Francais stand-off has not recovered from the ankle injury he sustained during the 26-18 defeat to England last weekend.

His place in the team to face the Scots goes to 21-year-old Lionel Beauxis, who has been understudy to Skrela in France's opening four games of the tournament. Damien Traille will be the replacement fly-half.

Scotland captain Paterson said: Losing Skrela is a big miss, hes transformed their game in the way he defends and the way he controls things  hes a big, big player for them.

I would say that Skrela has probably been the best back, and certainly the best number 10, in the championship so far.

If he was playing then it would probably have been slightly more difficult. Mind you, Beauxis has got one of the biggest boots in the game  so he is a pretty good replacement.

France enter this final weekend of the tournament as slight favourites to retain the championship. Their win-lose ratio is identical to that of both Ireland and England, but they have a superior points difference.

Furthermore, to most neutral observers their final match is perceived an easier task than that faced by both Ireland, who must play Italy in Rome, and England, who play Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

However, Paterson is hoping that the pressure to win by a sizeable margin affects the French approach.

He said: France are bound to be under more pressure than we are. We cant win the championship, they can  and their fans will think they should. These things we have to use to our advantage.

They know that they will have to score points if they want to win the championship, so that will put pressure on them  and their fans know that too, which will add even more pressure.

Two years ago, their fans got on their backs before we even got to half-time, and Im sure there is more pressure now than there was then, so if we can start, well, that will make things interesting.

It is important for us that we finish on a high because we plan to be involved in a prolonged training phase during the summer, and you want to go into that with confidence  and were due the fans a victory.