Scotland give World Cup pick John Hardie his chance in France warm-up

The controversial Scotland call-up John Hardie will be given the chance to justify his selection after being named in the side that faces France in Paris on Saturday.

The New Zealand-born flanker landed a surprise place in Vern Cotter’s 31-man squad for the World Cup in England at the expense of the in-form pair Blair Cowan and John Barclay.

The 27-year-old, who qualifies for Scotland thanks to his Fife-born grandparents, only touched down on Scottish soil for the first time five weeks ago and has less than an hour of international Test action under his belt.

Hardie, who is currently without a club after walking away from the Highlanders to push his World Cup bid with Scotland, will now be under pressure to perform when Cotter’s side take on Les Bleus at the Stade de France in their final warm-up match before kicking off their tournament against Japan in Gloucester on 23 September.

The specialist No7’s inclusion is one of five changes to the side that thrashed Italy at Murrayfield 48-7 last weekend.

The wings Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour are also both welcomed back having missed Scotland’s previous pre-tournament Tests against Ireland and the Azzurri double-header.

Maitland was ruled out with a shoulder injury while back trouble meant Seymour missed out, but both are now ready to step up their preparations.

The centre Matt Scott comes in for Peter Horne to start alongside Mark Bennett in the remaining change to the back division, while the lock Richie Gray takes Grant Gilchrist’s slot as he starts alongside his brother Jonny in the second row.

Cotter, the head coach, said: “We were pleased with a number of aspects of our performance against Italy but feel we still have a lot of work to get through before we begin the Rugby World Cup.

“France are a very powerful and skilful side so this match will provide another good assessment for this group, and another valuable insight into where we are at as a squad.”

Scotland team to face France on Saturday 5 September

S Maitland (London Irish); T Seymour (Glasgow), M Bennett (Glasgow), M Scott (Edinburgh), T Visser (Harlequins); F Russell (Glasgow), G Laidlaw (Gloucester); A Dickinson (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), W Nel (Edinburgh), R Gray (Castres), J Gray (Glasgow Warriors), R Wilson (Glasgow), J Hardie (unattached), D Denton (Edinburgh). Replacements: F Brown (Glasgow), G Reid (Glasgow), J Welsh (Newcastle), T Swinson (Glasgow), A Strokosch (Perpignan), S Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh), D Weir (Glasgow), S Lamont (Glasgow)