Chris Paterson picked to make history with start at his fourth World Cup

CHRIS Paterson will enter the record books again this weekend when he starts at full-back in Scotland’s opening match against Romania and becomes the first Scot to feature in four Rugby World Cups.

The 105-times capped 33-year-old made his debut for Scotland against Spain in the 1999 World Cup and played key roles in 2003 in Australia and four years ago when Scotland played in France. This will be his fifth appearance against Romania, including the World Cup clash in 2007, the Borderer having played in all five games four years ago after coming off the bench for Rory Lamont in the opening win over Portugal.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has made nine changes to the side that last ran out in Scotland colours, in the warm-up against Italy at Murrayfield last month.

Hooker Ross Ford will also mark a personal milestone by winning his 50th cap, having made his World Cup debut in the opening match of the last tournament against Portugal. As well as Paterson replacing Rory Lamont in the No 15 jersey, there is a change at stand-off where 23-year-old Ruaridh Jackson returns to the side at the expense of his former mentor Dan Parks.

Captain Alastair Kellock will lead Scotland into his first and their seventh World Cup campaign, linking up in the second row with his Glasgow teammate Richie Gray, having partnered Nathan Hines in the Murrayfield win over Italy, and the front row returns to full strength with the Edinburgh trio of Allan Jacobsen, Ford and Geoff Cross back in harness at the front of the pack.

Mike Blair retains his place at scrum-half having edged ahead of Chris Cusiter in his recovery from injury over the summer, with Cusiter primed for a run off the bench, while Rory Lawson bides his time and waits for the chance to prove himself ready in the second match of the tournament next week.

Just as Robinson mixed up his teams in the two warm-ups with Ireland and Italy, using 29 of his 30 squad players, the head coach is planning a similar strategy over the first two games of this World Cup. That will not extend to all 30 of the squad starting against Romania or Georgia, and the involvement of some will hinge on whether they come off the bench but it is expected that the eight left out of the squad for Saturday’s Romania game will be brought into the squad to face Richie Dixon’s Georgians on Wednesday in Invercargill.

Robinson insisted at the team announcement in Invercargill that he had only one aim and that was to start the tournament with a confident win. He also made it clear that he was not looking to pick teams merely to give players a run in the lead-up to the tougher matches with Argentina and England. However, there is little doubt that Robinson’s planning all along has centred on the Romania and Georgia games as providing the finishing touches to his players’ preparations for the rigours of the tournament. He will not fall into the trap, however, of taking Romania and Georgia lightly and the strength of the team named for the opening game is testament to the fact that this is one of the strongest-ever squads, with more competition across positions than Scotland has ever had at a World Cup.