SIX NATIONS NEWS ROUND-UP:JIM HAMILTON was yesterday recalled to the Scotland side for Saturday's clash with Ireland after recovering from a shoulder injury.

The Edinburgh lock, who missed the win over Italy, comes in for Glasgow captain Alastair Kellock.

Head coach Frank Hadden had delayed finalising his 22 for this weekend’s match at Murrayfield to give Hamilton and fellow secondrow Nathan Hines more time to prove their fitness.

Hines has been named on the bench and could make his first appearance of the championship after recovering from a knee injury.

Hadden said: “Both Jim Hamilton and Nathan Hines have emerged unscathed from a tough couple of days’ training and Jim will be back in the starting line-up, with Nathan on the bench.

“We are delighted to have players of this quality available to us, but equally delighted that Alastair Kellock made it such a difficult decision for us by the quality of his performance against Italy.”

Kellock drops out of the 22 altogether, while the final spot on the bench is filled by Edinburgh centre Nick De Luca.

Sebastien Chabal will be under orders to smash some holes in England’s much-vaunted defence when he reverts to France’s backrow for “Le Crunch” at Twickenham on Sunday.

The Sale Sharks forward has been used as a lock for France’s first three matches of the Six Nations but will be unleashed as a flanker this weekend, with the French beefing up their pack for what is always their stand-out fixture of the tournament.

There are three personnel changes to the team that started the superb victory against Wales a week and a half ago, prop Lionel Faure and lock Jerome Thion coming into the pack and Francois Trinh-Duc replacing the injured Benoit Baby at outhalf.

Thion’s arrival in the secondrow means Chabal will move to his usual department at the back of the scrum, although not at his best position of number eight – that jersey is kept by Imanol Harinordoquy, France’s best player in the tournament so far.

France head coach Marc Lievremont, however, has wanted to try out the hirsute media icon at openside flanker for a while now and he believes a match against England is the perfect time.

“The idea has been thrown about for a some time – it’s an interesting option,” said Lievremont.

“He’s the only player who has this versatility in the second and backrows. I’ve said to myself for a while that, once we have controlled the rotation of our players up front, it could be an interesting option against a powerful team such as England or South Africa.”

Simon Shaw will make his first England start under Martin Johnson after being named as one of three changes in the team to play France. The veteran Wasps lock (36) has replaced Nick Kennedy in the secondrow, while Leicester’s in-form flanker Tom Croft has edged out James Haskell at blindside.

Harlequins winger Ugo Monye returns to the side in place of calf injury victim Paul Sackey.

SCOTLAND

(v Ireland, Murrayfield, Sat, 5pm)

C Paterson (Edinburgh); S Danielli (Ulster), M Evans (Glasgow), G Morrison (Glasgow), T Evans (Glasgow); P Godman (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Dickinson (Gloucester), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton); J White (Sale), J Hamilton (Edinburgh); A Strokosch (Gloucester), J Barclay (Glasgow), S Taylor (Stade Français). Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow), M Low (Glasgow), N Hines (Perpignan), S Gray (Northampton), C Cusiter (Perpignan), N De Luca (Edinburgh), H Southwell (Edinburgh).

ENGLAND

(v France, Twickenham, Sun, 3.0)

D Armitage (London Irish); U Monye (Harlequins), M Tindall (Gloucester), R Flutey (Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps); S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), S Shaw (Wasps); T Croft (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), J White (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), N Kennedy (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), A Goode (Brive), M Tait (Sale Sharks).

FRANCE

(v England)

M Medard (Toulouse); J Malzieu (Clermont), M Bastareaud (Stade Français), Y Jauzion, C Heymans (both Toulouse); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Bourgoin); L Faure (Sale), D Szarzewski, S Marconnet (both Stade Français); L Nallet (Castres, capt), J Thion (Biarritz); T Dusautoir (Toulouse), S Chabal (Sale), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz). Replacements: B Kayser (Leicester), T Domingo (Clermont), L Picamoles (Montpellier), J Bonnaire (Clermont), S Tillous-Borde (Castres), F Fritz (Toulouse), D Traille (Biarritz).