Rugby betting: Six Nations - Scotland vs France

This is quite possibly the most crucial fixture of the entire championship. Only France have managed to lose their first fixture and then managed to go on to win the championship, and for probably the first time in Six Nations history, Scotland can be forgiven for fancying their chances of securing the title. Click here for a free £25 to bet on Six Nations rugby with Blue Square They host France and England at Murrayfield, and a crumbling Ireland and Italy probably hold no fears for Frank Hadden's men either. It's an exciting time north of the border and Hadden has mixed it up a little by leaving out Chris Paterson at fly-half. It's a curious choice, especially since Paterson has been the most accurate kicker in the world for some time. Hadden has used the excuse that a lack of game time lead him to put the former skipper on the bench with Dan Parks slotting in at pivot. To be fair to Parks, he has been the fulcrum around which Glasgow have risen from being the whipping boys of Europe to a real force in the Heineken Cup, and Hadden clearly feels he is up to the job. Which is the same position new coach Marc Lievremont is in having picked the uncapped Francois Trinh-Duc at fly-half in a much-changed Les Bleus' line-up. The Montpellier No 10 is one of four players on debut for the French and in such a fixture of this magnitude, Lievremont is taking a massive gamble. Sure, Sale's Lionel Faure and Clermont's Julien Malzieu are no strangers to pressure, but quite what prop Julien Brugnaut of Dax will make of an international scrum remains to be seen. Scotland beat France 20-16 in 2006, and with the nucleus of the side that did the job two years ago, Hadden should be confident of beating the French on home turf. Hadden has also made a fixture of starting games strongly both at international level and when he was a club coach, and with the French probably needing a little time to gel, the Scots also look value to score the first points as well. Verdict: 3pts Scotland @ 13/8 (Blue Square) Click here for a free £25 to bet on Six Nations rugby with Blue Square