Eleven changes are no reflection on Romania scare says Robinson

The Scots were facing a 21-24 scoreline on Saturday before two Simon Danielli tries plucked victory from the fire in the final five minutes. Danielli, however, is handed a rest after his heroics by being left out of the second match against the Georgians.

The only four players who keep their starting spots in coach Andy Robinson’s latest XV are Allan Jacobsen, Kelly Brown, Max Evans and Sean Lamont, but the coach insists the reshuffle was not influenced by his team going so close to a humiliating defeat against Romania. “The selection is based on the four-day turnaround from Saturday’s match and is about us continuing our winning start to the tournament with a victory over Georgia,” said Robinson. “It should not be interpreted as a reflection on our performance against Romania.”

In a shake-up of the backline, Rory Lamont comes in at full-back for Chris Paterson, who drops to the bench. Nick De Luca and Graeme Morrison take over in the centre from Joe Ansbro and Sean Lamont respectively, with Lamont shifting back to his favoured left wing berth.

The half-backs also change with Dan Parks and Rory Lawson returning as a partnership, leaving Chris Cusiter again on the bench. Lawson regains the captaincy from Alastair Kellock, for what will be the scrum-half’s fourth time with the leadership role having won on every previous occasion, against South Africa, Samoa and Ireland.

The expectation is that Parks will be instructed to keep Scotland playing in the Georgian half as much as possible, with a more tactical kicking game than was witnessed against Romania, and also take over the goal-kicking duties from Paterson.

Up front Euan Murray is back, starting at tighthead prop, even though he will not be available for the next match against Argentina as it falls on a Sunday, and Scott Lawson comes in for this 30th cap at hooker. Jim Hamilton, the 20-stone Gloucester lock, takes over from Richie Gray in the second row and Nathan Hines starts alongside him in place of Kellock. Alasdair Strokosch, the Gloucester flanker, is brought back into the back row on the blind side, shifting Kelly Brown to No 8 in place of Richie Vernon.

Brown has also been asked to lead the pack as Lawson’s vice-captain. The other change in the back row sees the quick Ross Rennie taking over from John Barclay on the openside.

Scotland have opted for a five/two split of forwards and backs on the bench. That is a reflection of the test Georgia will pose in the set-piece and Robinson’s belief that he may need further ammunition for the last half-hour. The coach added: “We spoke before the tournament about the need to utilise our squad over these opening two games given the proximity of the fixtures and that is what we have done.

“Of course we will look for considerable improvement on our display at the weekend, particularly in our discipline at the breakdown. We simply must not give away cheap three points.”

The centres De Luca and Morrison and flanker Strokosch will be making their World Cup debuts and all three speak in tomorrow’s Scotsman about facing their first tournament matches.”

Former Scotland coach Richie Dixon will announce his Georgian team today. Full details will appear on Scotsman.com.