McGeechan chooses Australian option

If Wallaby sportsmen have precious little time for their English counterparts, the same goes for the Scots, particularly on Calcutta Cup day. As Nathan Hines, a 26-year-old lock forward from the Edinburgh club, is an Australian who has elected to wrap himself in the blue shirt of Scotland, it is reasonable to suggest that he dislikes the Twickenham set twice as much as any of his colleagues. All of which explains why Ian McGeechan, the craftiest of coaches, has drafted him into his side for tomorrow's intriguing piece of Six Nations business.

Hines replaces Stuart Grimes, the Newcastle forward, after impressing McGeechan in the latter stages of the convincing victory over Wales at Murrayfield 12 days ago. Andy Craig, the inexperienced centre who plays Second Division rugby with Orrell, also caught the eye sufficiently to secure promotion from the bench, and beats Kevin Utterson to a place in the starting formation. "These are two players with fresh legs," McGeechan explained yesterday.

There is method aplenty amid the madness of changing a winning side. Craig will play on a left-and-right basis with the bulky Jim McLaren – most top-level sides prefer an inside-outside midfield combination – in an effort to disrupt the English rhythm and ask unexpected questions from scrum and line-out. Hines' inclusion indicates a move away from Scotland's traditional rucking game. "We want to carry the ball further and more aggressively, rather than go to ground early," said Jim Telfer, whose fruitful partnership with McGeechan will soon end.

Telfer is nearing retirement, and it is his dearest wish to record a victory over England in London for the first time in two decades. Given half a chance, he would don the kit and take a swing at the Sassenachs himself. "We have been striving for more aggression in our pack, and, as you can't change the personality of people, you sometimes have to change the personnel. We now have a combative unit. We are younger than the English, too. There is no getting away from the fact that they are the best team in the world, but, if we start well, our youth may favour us."

Needless to say, one of the five thirtysomethings in the England pack was quick to spurn the ageist argument of the ageing Telfer. Martin Johnson, back as captain after minor ankle problems that cost him his place against Italy in the last round of matches, joins Jason Leonard and Neil Back in a reshaped unit – more than 200 caps' worth of hardened, been-there done-it experience – and is far from uneasy at the prospect. "I would have been happy to go into this game with the guys who played the Italians, but these people are our first choices and they are back fit," said the Leicester lock, who is currently sampling the joys of parenthood after the birth of his daughter, Molly, last weekend.

Johnson has submerged himself in an ocean of disciplinary hot water in the past, but it is his fellow second-row, Bath's Danny Grewcock, who faces trial by pin-striped tribunal on Tuesday night. Selected among the replacements for tomorrow's game, Grewcock has been cited by Kevin Pattinson, an independent Rugby Football Union official, on two counts arising from the Premiership match with Northampton six days ago.

He has been accused of striking an opponent – presumably Mark Connors, the former Wallaby lock – and of committing an act contrary to good sportsmanship. After the bust-up with Connors, Grewcock picked up his opponent's headgear, which lay on the grass, and ripped it to pieces. Suspension could cost Bath their captain for two important Premiership matches and, quite possibly, both legs of their Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-final against Saracens.

France have asked Frédéric Michalak, the Toulouse back, to fill the vacant outside-half position against Italy in Rome on Sunday. They have also recalled Thomas Castaignède at outside centre and moved Xavier Garbajosa to the left wing in place of Vincent Clerc, who drops to the bench. The Italians have recalled Diego Dominguez and Andrea Lo Cicero at stand-off and loose-head prop respectively, but their best player, the flanker-turned-wing Mauro Bergamasco, is still injured.

Six Nations Teams

SCOTLAND (v England, Twickenham, tomorrow): G Metcalfe (Glasgow); C Paterson (Edinburgh), J McLaren (Bordeaux-Bègles), A Craig (Orrell), K Logan (Wasps); G Townsend (Borders), B Redpath (Sale, capt); T Smith (Northampton), G Bulloch (Glasgow), B Douglas (Borders), S Murray (Edinburgh), N Hines (Edinburgh), J White (Glasgow), S Taylor (Edinburgh), A Mower (Newcastle). Replacements: R Russell (Saracens), G Kerr (Leeds), S Grimes (Newcastle), R Beattie (Bristol), M Blair (Edinburgh), G Ross (Leeds), K Utterson (Borders).

FRANCE (v Italy, Rome, Sunday): C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); A Rougerie (Montferrand), T Castaignède (Saracens), D Traille (Pau), X Garbajosa (Toulouse); F Michalak (Toulouse), D Yachvili (Biarritz); I Harinordoquy (Pau), O Magne (Montferrand), S Betsen (Biarritz), O Brouzet (Montferrand), F Pelous (Toulouse, capt), S Marconnet (Stade Français), R Ibanez (Stade Français), J-J Crenca (Agen). Replacements: J-B Rué (Agen), O Milloud (Bourgoin), D Auradou (Stade Français), P Tabacco (Stade Français), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse), G Merceron (Montferrand), V Clerc (Toulouse).

ITALY (v France, Rome, Sunday): Mirco Bergamasco (Padua); N Mazzuccato (Treviso), P Vaccari (Calvisano), G Raineri (Calvisano), D Dallan (Treviso); D Dominguez (Stade Français), A Troncon (Treviso, capt); M Phillips (Viadana), A Persico (Viadana), A de Rossi (Calvisano), M Giacheri (Rotherham), C Bezzi (Viadana), R Martinez (Treviso), C Festuccia (Parma), A Lo Cicero (Lazio). Replacements: F Ongaro (Treviso), L Castrogiovanni (Calvisano), S Dellape (Treviso), S Palmer (Treviso), M Mazzantini (Rovigo), R Pez (Rotherham), A Masi (L'Aquilla).