Centre John Leslie has been ruled out of the Scotland side to face England at Murrayfield on Saturday. Leslie sustained a calf injury on club duty for Northampton at the weekend and has not recovered sufficiently to be considered for the Calcutta Cup encounter.
The loss of the New Zealandborn player and former Scotland captain is a major blow to hopes of a repeat of the triumph in Edinburgh two years ago which ended English hopes of a Grand Slam.
Coach Ian McGeechan is set to name his starting line-up tonight. McGeechan has a number of options available, including switching Gregor Townsend from his preferred outhalf role and introducing Duncan Hodge.
Meanwhile, France coach Bernard Laporte will be without injured captain Fabien Galthie's, but is confident Olivier Magne will be fit for when his side entertain Italy on Saturday.
ENGLAND (v Scotland): J Robinson (Sale); A Healey (Leicester), W Greenwood (Harlequins), M Tindall (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), K Bracken (Saracens); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Bristol), M Johnson (Leicester), B Kay (Leicester), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps). Replacements: M Regan (Bath), J Leonard (Harlequins), D Grewcock (Bath), M Corry (Leicester), N Duncombe (Harlequins), C Hodgson (Sale), D Luger (Harlequins)/I Balshaw (Bath).
FRANCE (v Italy): N Jeanjean (Stade Toulousain), A Rougerie (Montferrand), D Traille (Pau), T Marsh (Montferrand), D Bory (Montferrand), G Merceron (Montferrand), F Michalak (Stade Toulousain), O Magne (Montferrand, cap), S Hall (Beziers), S Betsen (Biarritz), T Privat (Beziers), D Auradou (Stade Francais), P de Villiers (Stade Francais), Y Bru (Stade Toulousain), J-J Crenca (Agen). Replacements: R Ibanez (Castres), Poux (Narbonne), F Pelous (Stade Toulousain), E Vermeulen (Montferrand), A Albouy (Castres), F Gelez (Agen), X Garbajosa (Stade Toulousain).
