Gregor Townsend has made six changes to Scotland’s run-on XV ahead of Sunday’s Six Nations clash against France at Murrayfield.

This follows Scotland’s humiliating 34-7 defeat to Wales last Saturday.

Among the backs, Peter Horne starts at inside centre at the expense of Chris Harris, with Huw Jones shifting to outside centre; Sean Maitland is preferred on the left wing after Byron McGuigan was ruled out with an injury; and scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw is elevated to the starting lineup ahead of Ali Price.

In the pack, No 8 Ryan Wilson, lock Grant Gilchrist and tighthead prop Simon Berghan have been promoted to the starting side, taking over from Cornell du Preez, Ben Toolis and Jon Welsh respectively.

‘We’ve seen a response from the players in training this week and that needs to continue into and through the 80-plus minutes of the match because France will pose a massive and immensely-physical challenge,’ said Townsend.

‘As a group we’re delighted to be playing at home in front of another sell-out crowd and are looking forward to putting in a performance that can energise our supporters. To do that we need to out-work the opposition and be more accurate in a number of aspects of our play.’

Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid.
Subs: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Dave Denton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Blair Kinghorn.

Photo: Damien Meyer/AFP Photo