Paris match-ups

With team selection having been put back by 24 hours to let players get over injuries, Scotland's options were becoming much more clear yesterday. No fewer than 14 players have undergone medical treatment but all bar four of those - Nathan Hines and Euan Murray, who have been ruled out, as well as Geoff Cross and Simon Webster, who are very doubtful - were fit to train yesterday.

Even so, preparation for what most are seeing as a damage limitation exercise has given the management huge problems.

While there has been a feeling recently that Scotland's strength in depth is greater than for many years, just how shallow the talent pool really is has again already been exposed in this championship.

Still, the reason for a widespread sense of despondency in the rugby community before and after last week's match was down to selectorial blundering, and regardless of who is available, the management has to improve its performance.

An additional factor this weekend is that, having complained about lack of time to get ready for the Wales game, it will be even harder to put together new units for Saturday's match with only six days between matches, as well as a travel day to Paris.

With The Herald's proposed XV representing what should, rather than what necessarily will, happen when the team is named today, the thoughts exercising the selectors minds unit by unit ought to have been as follows:

Front-row
Allan Jacobsen made a fair number of handling errors at Murrayfield on Sunday but he and Ross Ford should remain automatic choices.

Euan Murray would, of course, be the first name on the team-sheet, while Geoff Cross was thought to be a more-than-capable understudy, but his naivete was badly exposed on his Test debut.

Should Cross now also be ruled out, and with Ally Dickinson, Sunday's replacement, having struggled when he came on, Murray Low could be the second debutant tighthead prop in successive weeks, although the vastly experienced Gav Kerr is also available.

Ideal front-row Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford and Geoff Cross.

Locks
The gamble of having only one specialist lock in a 22-man squad was Scotland's equivalent of picking Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half last weekend. With Nathan Hines now ruled out, Jim Hamilton is sure to play, while Al Kellock is a specialist lock. Jason White is not.

Ideal boiler-house Jim Hamilton and Al Kellock.

back-row
Jason White's lack of rugby suggests he is not yet sharp enough to play in a Test as a loose forward, which perhaps contributed to his eccentric selection at lock.

That being the case, rather than asking Ally Hogg to play the back-row position he knows least well, it should come down to which of the specialist blindside flankers is deemed readier ,with Kelly Brown edging out Al Strokosch on current form. John Barclay and Simon Taylor remain automatic picks.

Ideal back row Kelly Brown, John Barclay and Simon Taylor.

Half-backsM
Mike Blair was not at his best on Sunday, while Chris Cusiter looked on top of his game when he took the field, but it is too early in the campaign for the captain's place to be under threat. At stand-off there seems little option but to stick with Phil Godman who, as ever, was tidy enough on Sunday without looking particularly authoritative.

Ideal half-back combination Mike Blair, capt and Phil Godman.

Midfield There is an argument that with Godman at stand-off he should have clubmate Nick De Luca outside him, but Graeme Morrison's physical presence and defensive astuteness are, both long and short-term, going to be very important to a team that is collectively short on both.

The real argument, then, is whether he should be partnered with his Glasgow Warriors clubmate Max Evans who, in Sunday's try-scoring cameo performance, demonstrated just why he has become so popular among Firhill regulars in recent times.

Very new to top-flight rugby, Evans remains raw, so might be better held back for a first start at home against Italy, rather than being thrown in against Yannick Jauzion in the Stade de France. Then again, he did pretty well against the great French centre in Toulouse and, while Ben Cairns remains a strong contender, it is a risk worth taking.

Ideal midfield partnership Graeme Morrison and Max Evans.

Back three
Chris Paterson is absolutely sick of being regarded as something of a problem as people discuss how to get his goal-kicking prowess into the side without affecting the balance of the team.

It is certainly remarkable that it now seems widely forgotten that he won around half of his caps because he was Scotland's best back, even before he became the regular goal-kicker.

Brought on as a replacement on Sunday, he came closer than anyone other than Evans to turning the game Scotland's way, getting within a yard of the line in the first half and within centimetres of forcing downward pressure when chasing his own kick late in the game. Had he scored with both attempts, he would have matched another national record, for Test tries.

Paterson looked much more dangerous than Sean Lamont did at any stage, while Simon Danielli is also in the squad and Simon Webster is a fine impact player. However, the concussion the latter suffered may make it easier for the selectors to deal with last week's main recurring question, namely what does Thom Evans have to do?

His omission seems to have been yet another case, as with the debate over whether Paterson should play at stand-off over many years, of a Frank Hadden-led management team focusing on negatives rather than, as coaches always claim to, accentuating positives.

On at least one occasion on Sunday, Scotland would probably have scored had Evans been playing, when Hugo Southwell made a break down the right. Which brings us to full-back and, while not quite as assured of himself as with Edinburgh in recent weeks, Southwell more than justified his selection.

Ideal back three Hugo Southwell, Chris Paterson and Thom Evans.