Six Nations: Nick De Luca takes up Calcutta Cup role to give Max Evans room to attack on wing

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 22:19

SCOTLAND have made one change to the team for Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield but with a twin desire to uncover a greater scoring threat from the talents at their disposal and nullify England's danger men.

• Andy Robinson announces his squad to face England at Murrayfield on Saturday. Picture: SNS

Simon Danielli is the only player to be dropped from the side that lost in Italy ten days ago as Scotland seek a first Six Nations win this year, and Edinburgh centre Nick De Luca the only new face in the starting XV, marking his first start since 2008. But it is the switch within that where the Scotland coaches Andy Robinson, Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman hope to find a new scoring edge.

Bidding for a third Murrayfield triumph in this fixture in a row, the coaches are sticking by Graeme Morrison, their defensive general who started the last two Calcutta Cups, even though Glasgow's inside centre has not been on top-form in attack. But they will partner him for the first time with De Luca and shift Max Evans, the Glasgow centre, to the wing where he played some of the game against Wales last month after the injury suffered by his brother Thom.

Explaining the coaches' thinking, Robinson said it owed much to working out how to get Evans – without injured trio Thom Evans, Rory Lamont and Chris Paterson Scotland are running short of potent finishers – onto the ball in the crucial final third of the field.

He said: "Max Evans is our best one-on-one player and we've got to look at how we create situations to get Max in those positions.

"I felt in the Italy game at times when we needed Max to run he was in a passing position and we have to get the best out of resources, so that means freeing him up to support the breaks that we're making and also to have a free rein to see the spaces and get there, and be able to attack, particularly, some of the English front five.

"We have talked long and hard about our midfield combinations. We're giving Graeme Morrison another opportunity and I really think he'll take it this weekend. I have seen some really good things from Graeme over the last year and it's about implementing (them] with consistency through the whole game, and I think he's set up to do that so I'm looking forward to seeing him perform.

"So then it was about looking who would play with him. Young Alex Grove came into consideration, as did Sean Lamont in the centres ... there are a number of combinations that we have. But part of it is also looking at what England have and how we can stop their threat, their midfield combination of (Riki] Flutey and (Mathew] Tait, and their ability to get the ball to the wings, and Nick (De Luca] is a very combative centre.

"He's a very good defender and is able to read plays pretty well, so I want to get him in there to be able to stop the threat of Tait, which is a big threat. On a one-on-one job I think he (De Luca] will be able to do that.

"We also look at how we can play the game ourselves, with the power and pace we need in those positions, and you have to look at our midfield defence and how the structure works – whenever you make a lot of changes you can disrupt that. So it was important to look at defence and attack, and what we do stop England from scoring."

Elsewhere, the team stays the same, which means no recall to the starting line-up yet for Nathan Hines, the experienced Leinster lock. He is a gifted ball player, but coach Andy Robinson has opted for Jim Hamilton's lineout skills in a bid to destroy the English game-plan at its epicentre.

"The other aspect to this game is about getting set-piece ball and our lineout has been going pretty well in attack and defence," said Robinson. "If we want to get a foothold in this game we have to stop England winning quality lineout ball.

"They have a number of plays they run off their lineouts while, for us, Jim Hamilton, at the front of the lineout, put a lot of pressure on the Italians and the Welsh that actually stopped them being able to play, and we're looking for the same this weekend against England.

"Nathan is a very, very good player and this (selection] was really looking at the lineout and how we can put the outstanding England lineout under some pressure. We really do need to do that."

Injuries have robbed Robinson of Mike Blair, the Edinburgh scrum-half, and Gloucester forwards Alasdair Dickinson and Alasdair Strokosch, but that means recalls to the bench for Rory Lawson, and Edinburgh's Geoff Cross and Alan MacDonald.

The coach, who will lead a team against his native England for the first time since he resigned as their coach in 2006, added: "I've looked at how and why Scotland have won in this fixture in the last couple of years (including when he was England coach four years ago] and one of the key elements has been that Scotland have stopped England from scoring tries.

"Now, why have we lost the games that we've lost (this year]? We've conceded soft tries against France, although they took them well, and against Wales, and the one we conceded against Italy was very disappointing. That's a key reason why we have not gone to win those games. So our defensive performance is vital here this weekend.

"We are challenging defences, as we showed in the Wales game and Italy game, but it's okay having the show; you've got to get over the line and score. We've got to finish off, so we have to get the ball to our dangerous and best finishers."

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