The febrile atmosphere of the Stade de France will be charged with extra emotion when Scotland take to the pitch for their RBS 6 Nations Championship at the Paris ground in nine days' time.

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre revealed yesterday that he expects the Charlie Hebdo shootings three weeks ago to provoke a poignant but defiant response from the crowd in the French capital as the nation pulls together with another show of solidarity.

"The Marseillaise [anthem] before Scotland will be quite emotional with what has happened to our country in the last few weeks," said Saint-Andre. We fight, we stick together, we chant the Marseillaise and we play rugby together."

France captain Thierry Dusautoir backed up his coach's sentiments. The former world player of the year wrote an emotional blog after the Paris events and he explained that he had particularly strong reasons for feeling as he did.

Dusautoir said: "I tried to express my feelings at that moment. I was very emotional and shocked, like a lot of people.

"I am mixed race. My father is white, my mother is black. I think different cultures can live together. France is a good example of this and I hope that will continue."

Vern Cotter, the Scotland coach who spent a number of years in France as a player and, later, as coach of Clermont Auvergne, said that the terrorist killings had moved everybody in the country and that he expected France to play with added level of passion and determination.

"The indications are that they are going to use this occasion to bring the country together after the difficulties they have had," said the New Zealander. "They will be up for it emotionally."

Cotter has earned a solid pass mark in his first eight months as Scotland coach, guiding the side to five wins from seven matches during his time in charge. However, all of those victories were over sides below Scotland in the world rankings, while four of their next five opponents are ranked higher. Despite that, and especially in light of impressive performances in the November internationals, Cotter said he had no concerns about over-confidence among his players.

"There were some good things in the autumn," Cotter suggested. "I was really pleased with how the guys played. Their attitude on the paddock, their positive attitude to take the ball, run, move and score points and enjoy it.

"We want to try and do the same thing but this is a different competition and tactically we may look at different options. It will be a tough Six Nations, especially with that hard first game against France.

"One of the really strong characteristics of Scottish people is that they are grounded. False dawns are things that have been written up in the media. We know that the Six Nations is tough, that the teams are ranked ahead of us and that it will be a battle. But we are looking forward to the games, especially the ones at home."

Between injuries, court cases and controversial call-ups, Cotter has not had his troubles to seek over the past few weeks. Squeezed into his SRU suit and in the baleful glare of the media spotlight at yesterday's tournament launch at London's up-market Hurlingham Club, it would be pushing it to say that he appeared to be enjoying his first official engagement as a Six Nations coach.

In one sense, though, he was in familiar surroundings, as three of the six competing countries now have New Zealanders at the helm. Cotter used to play against Wales coach Warren Gatland in their native country's provincial championship, while Joe Schmidt of Ireland was his assistant at Clermont.

Asked about this Kiwification of the European coaching scene, Cotter suggested that, as a late arrival to the Test scene, he was not yet in the same league as his countrymen. "The other two are good coaches," he smiled, "I wouldn't say I am.

"I don't know why it has happened. I can talk about global markets and suchlike, but I just know that Joe and Gatts are good coaches. Their results have shown that. It's just the way it turned out."

On the matter of another New Zealander, however, he was rather more forthcoming. Last week's fast-tracking into the Scotland squad of former Otago flanker Hugh Blake caused an outcry, with many believing that the move was a slap in the face for home-based players whose dreams of playing for their country had just become that bit harder to achieve.

However, Cotter mounted a stout defence both of his countryman and his own decision to bring the 22-year-old into the squad before he had even played a game for Edinburgh, the side Blake joined on a trial basis two months ago.

Cotter said: "He's a good player and we will be assessing him over the weeks to come. I had spoken to Hugh and he was a Scotsman living in NZ if you like. He has family over here and he made the decision to come and he is very proud of his heritage.

"He was selected to play for the under-20s in New Zealand because he was a good enough player. The All Blacks only tap into that under-20 group after they have been through a rigorous selection process. We were lucky to have someone who had been through that to be available to us.

"This is what he wanted to do. He wanted to come here. At 22, it was a big move on his part. There are Super Rugby franchises that would love to have him.

"I was a little surprised [by the public reaction] because I had spoken to him and knew how he felt. For me it wasn't a difficult decision, but it probably surprised people who hadn't had that discussion with him."