'Best I've seen' - Gregor Townsend delivers France verdict and size of task facing Scotland in Six Nations finale

No-one is underestimating the scale of the task awaiting Scotland in Paris and Gregor Townsend ramped it up a little further when he declared the current French team to be the best he had ever seen.

Fabien Galthie's all stars intend to be crowned Six Nations champions on Saturday night and the challenge for Scotland is to somehow spoil the party.

To that end, Townsend has made two changes to his starting side, one of them enforced. The hard-carrying Jack Dempsey has been ruled out with a hamstring injury and is replaced at No 8 by Matt Fagerson. The other alteration is also in the pack but is tactical as Gregor Brown is preferred to Jonny Gray in the second row.

Townsend hopes Brown will bring fresh energy and mix technical excellence at the lineout with "the skill and speed of a back-rower". Gray drops to the bench where he is joined by Edinburgh pair Marshall Sykes and Ben Muncaster who are in line for their Six Nations debuts as the Scotland coach reverts to a six-two split of forwards and backs in a bid to cope with France's power game. It means there is no place for Kyle Rowe or George Horne, with Jamie Dobie recalled to cover scrum-half and wing. Galthie, meanwhile, has gone seven-one.

France players celebrate their Guinness Six Nations victory over Ireland in Dublin. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The pressure is all on the France coach this weekend, something of which Townsend is well aware. After falling at the quarter-final stage at their home World Cup and being bested by Ireland in back-to-back Six Nations, this is a chance Galthie can't afford to squander. They have been the most impressive team in the championship and go into the final round with a one-point lead over England and a two-point advantage over Ireland. Fourth-placed Scotland lag five behind the leaders who had Townsend reaching for the superlatives.

"I think it would be a really exciting time if you’re a French rugby supporter right now," said the Scotland coach. "While their performances in the Six Nations have been the best I've seen from a French team, two years ago - when they put 50 points on England away – was pretty good too. I thought some of the displays in the World Cup were at such a high level, they probably deserved more. That game against South Africa was one of the best games I've ever seen and that was just a World Cup quarter-final.

"They beat New Zealand in the World Cup, they beat New Zealand in November. They're playing a game of rugby that really suits their strengths. Sometimes when you've got a massive pack, some teams in the past have slowed down the game, when you try and make it a set-piece battle and a power battle.

"They're able to get that power linked to an attacking style of rugby that means it's going to be high speed; there's going to be off-loads, and there's going to be backs that get on ball. Maybe what's encouraging for France, even more encouraging, is the age profile of their team."

Townsend repeated his claim that playing France away was currently the "toughest test in world rugby" and called on his team to rise to the occasion.

"We're aware of the context of the game. The atmosphere will be amazing," he said. "We've played at Stade de France in the past and this will be even more heightened because of what's at stake for France. It's now just about focusing on our game and bringing that out for as long as we can and beyond. Pushing ourselves physically and being together throughout that 80 minutes. That's going to be very important."