Scotland v France - Murrayfield, 2.15pm, BBC 1, Virgin Media 1
Stuart Hogg insists Scotland are ready to deliver a rousing performance in their “must-win” Six Nations showdown with France at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.
The Scots have won one of their two games so far and will have to topple the French if they are to maintain their hopes of landing a first championship triumph since 1999.
After a disappointing defeat in Wales last time out, captain Hogg is confident his team are ready to deliver in front of a capacity crowd in Edinburgh.
“For us, the only pressure is the pressure we put on ourselves,” he said. “It’s a must-win game and we want to go out there and express ourselves and show what we’re about.
“Against Wales we didn’t give a true reflection of ourselves but against France we’re hoping to do exactly that. If we give a performance that we’re proud of, the crowd will get up on the back of that, and that’s exactly what we’re after.
“We want to play good rugby and show what it means to represent Scotland. If we do that and get the fans on their feet, they’re going to be very vocal about it.”
France have won both their matches so far and are widely viewed as the strongest team in the competition.
“They’re one of the best teams in world rugby at the moment,” said Hogg. “The victories they’ve had over the last year or so have been incredible, they’ve got some quality individuals and they seem to be playing incredibly well as a team.
“It’s a massive challenge but one we’re prepared and ready for. We’ve played France numerous times before and we’re excited about it.”
The Scots have won their last two Six Nations matches against France and Les Bleus have not won at Murrayfield since 2014.
“The last two times we’ve beaten France, in one we relied heavily on our defence and the other we relied heavily on the way we attacked,” said Hogg. “We’ll need to be at our best on both sides of the ball. That’s something we know we are capable of.
“We’ve got to stay in the moment and make sure we don’t switch off at any point in any passage of play. If we switch off at any point, we’ll be punished.
“We’ve got a great group here and I’ve no doubt we’ll step up and implement our game plan on both sides of the ball.”
SCOTLAND: S Hogg; D Graham, C Harris, S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe; F Russell, A P Price; P Schoeman, S McInally, Z Fagerson; S Skinner, G Gilchrist; R Darge, H Watson, M Bradbury. Replacements: G Turner, O Kebble, WP Nel, J Hodgson, N Haining, B White, B Kinghorn, M Bennett.
FRANCE: M Jaminet; D Penaud, G Fickou, J Danty, Y Moefana; R Ntamack, A Dupont (capt.); C Baille, J Marchand, U Atonio; C Woki, P Willemse; F Cros, A Jelonch, G Aldritt. Replacements: P Mauvuka, J-B Gros, D Bamba, R Taofifenua, T Flament, D Cretin, M Lucu, T Ramas.
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
