FRANCE v SCOTLAND:EVEN – OR, especially, when – he is parked on the bench, stroking his mane and scratching at the turf, Sebastien Chabal is the talk of the town, and rarely more so than in Paris this week. At Croke Park seven days ago "Lupe" exploited gap after gap, running like a thief with his pants on fire outside his centres, setting up one try and nearly scoring another. It seemed inconceivable the 17-stone lock would not be asked to do the same against Scotland this afternoon.

Yet there he will be in his blanket when the whistle goes, watching Romain Millo-Chlusky doing his dirty work in the tight stuff.

He is remarkable sanguine about it, happy to leave these decisions to his coach, perhaps grateful also for a rest from a full 80 minutes a week after a physically demanding experience in Dublin.

It is difficult, nonetheless, to imagine any other international coach picking his teams the way Marc Lievremont does – and not demanding more from Chabal. When he took over from Bernard Laporte 18 months ago, he insisted his goal, above all other considerations, was to shape a side that would win the next World Cup in 2011.

Thus entrusted, it looked at one point as if he were determined to select every adult male in the republic as he strained for the right combination.

Before today’s game, Lievremont had used 56 players, nearly half of them debutants, and he has made a further five changes to the team that lost to Ireland.

These are scary numbers.

They reflect either enviable depth or desperation – perhaps a mixture of both. Maybe he read too much Derrida in his youth, because this is deconstruction on a grand scale.

With five wins and six defeats on his watch, France are nearly as unsettled as when Laporte was waving the tricolor so vigorously towards the end of his eight-year reign.

Gregor Townsend, Scotland’s backs coach, thinks he sees what Lievremont is up to.

“From a neutral’s point of view, last week’s was a cracking game,” he said last night, “and I thought Chabal stood out. French journalists have criticised him for his work in the tight phases, but what a player to have there, a real inspiration for your team to get a secondrow taking on the outside backs.

“I think he’s on the bench for a reason and that’s not to be kept there for 80 minutes.

“Impact player is a phrase used for a lot of players but he certainly is one of them.

“They will see how our scrum conceded 11 points [losing to Wales] last week, so that’s maybe one part of their selection, more of a scrummaging front five, and, once they get going, bring Chabal on.

“But it might change, depending on the scoreline. We know France are dangerous throughout the team, and the bench is quality.

“With Chabal, I’ve seen Munster defending well against him when he plays for Sale. The thing is to make a crucial tackle on him. You’ve got to be aware that he’s going to come straight at you with a bit of pace.

“We are very critical of the way we defended last week. We were losing numbers at the breakdown where we didn’t need to.

“We’ve focused on that a lot this week. We think our shape can cope with the players they have. It’s about making those first tackles.”

Lievremont, meanwhile, is as concerned as the Scots, but from a different perspective.

Scotland have beaten France in Paris only twice in 40 years – and Townsend set up the last victory, in 1995, when he put Gavin Hastings over with a reverse pass that has come to be known as the “Toon Flip”.

So France see defeat here as unthinkable.

Lievremont went as far as to say it would be “true humiliation”.

If that is not inspiration for the Scots, nothing is.

Guardian Service

SCOTLAND

15 Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh)

14 Simon Danielli (Ulster)

13 Max Evans (Glasgow)

12 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow)

11 Thom Evans (Glasgow)

10 Phil Goodman (Edinburgh)

9 Mike Blair (Edinburgh capt)

1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh)

2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh)

3 Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester)

4 Jason White (Sale Sharks)

5 Jim Hamilton (Edinburgh)

6 Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester)

7 John Barclay (Glasgow)

8 Simon Taylor (Stade Français)

REPLACEMENTS:Dougie Hall (Glasgow), Moray Low (Glasgow), Kelly Brown (Glasgow), Scott Gray (Glasgow), Chris Cusiter (Perpignan), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Nick DeLuca (Edinburgh).

15 Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

14 Maxime Medard (Toulouse)

13 Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse)

12 Florian Fritz (Toulouse)

1 Cedric Heymans (Toulouse)

10 Lionel Beauxis (St Français)

9  Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres)

1 Fabien Barcella (Biarritz)

2 Dmitri Szarzewski (St Français)

3 Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)

4 Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt)

5 Romain Millo-Chlusky (Toulouse)

6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse)

7 Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpelier)

8 Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)

REPLACEMENTS:R Boyoud (Dax), B Kayser (Leicester), S Chabal (Sale), L Picamoles (Montpellier), M Parra (Bourgoin), B Baby, J Malzieu (both Clermont-Auvergne).