Six Nations: Scotland v France - Greig Laidlaw backs Peter Horne
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Greig Laidlaw and Peter Horne training at the Stade de France in 2015
Six Nations: France v Scotland |
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Venue: Stade de France Date: Saturday, 23 February Kick-off: 14:15 GMT |
Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio Scotland 92-95FM & the BBC Sport website and app. |
Scotland's half-backs will "play like we want to play", says captain Greig Laidlaw as he prepares to partner Peter Horne against France on Saturday.
Finn Russell started the opening Six Nations win over Italy and the defeat by Ireland but concussion has ruled him out of Saturday's Test in Paris.
Horne, 29, will replace him despite playing most of his career as a centre.
"He's ready to go and has got a lot of confidence after playing really well for Glasgow last week," Laidlaw said.
Three other Glasgow Warriors are in the backline and Clermont scrum-half Laidlaw believes that will help Horne settle into a relatively unfamiliar role.
"He's played at 10 for a long time at Glasgow," added the 33-year-old.
"It's important that [Warriors backs] Sam Johnson and Nick Grigg are outside him too.
"We'll have to change our approach from how we play with Finn slightly to suit Pete's strengths.
"Pete brings some different attributes to Finn. But he also brings a lot of the same ones Finn provides and we won't be deviating too much from our game plan and we'll play like we want to play."
'Paris victory would be massive'
The Scots are taking on a France side with two defeats from two so far in this year's championship.
Head coach Jacques Brunel has made five personnel changes to his side, including the inclusion of Romain Ntamack, 19, at fly-half and Antoine Dupont, 22, at scrum-half.
"They are both excellent young rugby players," said France-based Laidlaw.
"I think it's Ntamack's first start at 10 for France, while Dupont has been in excellent form for Toulouse in the Top 14.
"The fact they play together for Toulouse will help them. They are dangerous so we'll need to defend very smartly.
"France a very dangerous team. Any time you can get a victory in Paris it is massive. But we're focusing on the performance right now.
"We believe if we can deliver one it can put us in a position to win the game."