Rory Lawson spearheads bid to regain Scottish pride against Springboks

• Rory Lawson missed the heavy defeat to New Zealand through injury, but will return as captain to face South Africa. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Coach Andy Robinson resisted wholesale changes after stating that his side had let themselves and the nation down with their performance in the record 49-3, seven-tries-to-nil loss at Murrayfield to the All Blacks.

But he has lost captain Mike Blair to the concussion that forced him off before half-time and winger Rory Lamont has not recovered from the thigh injury that he sustained on Saturday.

That opens the door for Rory Lawson, the Gloucester scrum-half, to make a swift return after missing out last weekend with a hand injury and the 29-year-old also takes over the captaincy from Blair for the first time, while Nikki Walker is restored to the starting XV for the first time since scoring two tries in the defeat of Canada nearly two years ago and Chris Paterson comes back on to the bench.

In the pack, the changes are form-related, however. The 6ft 7in and 65-times capped Nathan Hines starts for the first time in a Scotland Test at blindside flanker - he has played there for his club and the British and Irish Lions - and Kelly Brown shifts to No 8, taking over from Glasgow youngster Richie Vernon, while Edinburgh lock Scott MacLeod comes in for Jim Hamilton.

On the bench, Moray Low takes over from Alasdair Dickinson and Glasgow's 31-times capped Dougie Hall replaces Scott Lawson but the Gloucester man will instead start for Scotland 'A' to ensure he is match fit ahead of a possible appearance in Scotland's final Test match against Samoa. With Hines able to cover second row, the coach has also gone with two back row replacements in Ross Rennie and Vernon, leaving Hamilton out of the 22 altogether.

Robinson stated that the coaching team had looked at every single position in the side and then studied what he felt Scotland required to cause South Africa problems, before settling on a team which shows fewer changes than many - perhaps even including himself - thought would be the case at full-time on Saturday.

He said: "I thought the player that really came on in the second half and put in a tough performance in was Nathan Hines. Then looking at the threat South Africa have, we felt it was right to play Nathan at six and bring in Scott MacLeod, who is a bit more athletic than Jim Hamilton, to run the lineout.

"Nathan has played for the Lions at six and for Leinster, and it's one of those calls I believe is right for where we are currently and this game.I also thought Richie Gray was one of our best performers, which is why we've pieced together the pack that we have.

"I've been pleased with the way Kelly (Brown] has been performing for us and the tight loose (around the set-piece and ruck] is an area where we have to be very strong, and Kelly defends well in that area, as well as giving us a really tough ball carrier. Kelly's effectiveness, particularly at the start of the game, with the level of physicality, got him the nod over Richie (Vernon], with Richie to come on in the second half. It's a balance also with Richie (Gray], Nathan and Scott (MacLeod]. Scott is very athletic and will be able to challenge the South Africa lineout, which is something we want to have a go at, but it is also his mobility around the field in supporting the off-loads and getting to the breakdown quickly, and our ability to be able to speed the game up."

That speed and support play was a major fault in Scotland's display against New Zealand, but Robinson admitted that, whatever changes he made, the team still had to play a whole lot better to compete against an even more physical southern hemisphere team.

"It was a pretty torrid first 28 minutes and we were shown a few lessons in how to play rugby," he said of Saturday's opening Test. "Now it's whether we can bounce back against a very good South African side. We are not looking long-term - we need a performance this weekend.

"If we defend the way we did (on Saturday] we're not going to beat anybody. For Scotland to win rugby matches we've got to keep the scoreboard down to 21 points or less, and you don't expect that to be the score after 15 or 16 minutes.

"The ruthlessness of the New Zealand attack just shows you what happens at this world-class level. We might have got away with it in the Six Nations. I think we did get away with it against Ireland and Argentina, but last Saturday we didn't get away with it and it's a big lesson."

Robinson was impressed by Ruaridh Jackson's second-half performance on his Test debut, but insisted that Dan Parks remained the best choice, if with a better balance of running and kicking this week. And the coach spoke highly of his new captain, Lawson following Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter in being the third scrum-half to take the reins.

However, he also praised the Springboks' ability to beat Ireland and Wales without firing on all cylinders and insisted that Scotland's ability to impose themselves on the tourists was crucial to regaining pride.

"Everyone's pretty shell-shocked but there is a process of rebuilding and, like it or not, that Test match is gone and you've got to focus on the next one. It's a big ask for us to play against this side and, as always, we've got to match whatever South Africa throw at us, but we also have to be able to play our game, and that's what we've talked about - playing the way we want to play."