Borderer Stuart Hogg insists the Scotland team are up for it in  their “must-win” Guinness Six Nations showdown with France at BT Murrayfield this afternoon.

The Scots will have to beat the French if they are to maintain their hopes of landing a first championship triumph since 1999.

After the disappointing defeat in Wales in their last game Hogg is confident his team are ready to deliver in front of a capacity crowd in Edinburgh.

“For us, the only pressure is the pressure we put on ourselves,” he said. “It’s a must-win game and we want to go out there and express ourselves and show what we’re about.

“Against Wales we didn’t give a true reflection of ourselves but against France we’re hoping to do exactly that. If we give a performance that we’re proud of, the crowd will get up on the back of that, and that’s exactly what we’re after.

“We want to play good rugby and show what it means to represent Scotland. If we do that and get the fans on their feet, they’re going to be very vocal about it.

“They’re one of the best teams in world rugby at the moment. The victories they’ve had over the last year or so have been incredible, they’ve got some quality individuals and they seem to be playing incredibly well as a team.

“It’s a massive challenge but one we’re prepared and ready for. We’ve played France numerous times before and we’re excited about it.”

France have not won at BT Murrayfield since 2014 and Scotland have won the last two encounters between the Auld Alliance.

“The last two times we’ve beaten France, in one we relied heavily on our defence and the other we relied heavily on the way we attacked,” said Hogg. “We’ll need to be at our best on both sides of the ball. That’s something we know we are capable of.

“We’ve got to stay in the moment and make sure we don’t switch off at any point in any passage of play. If we switch off at any point, we’ll be punished.

“We’ve got a great group here and I’ve no doubt we’ll step up and implement our game plan on both sides of the ball.”

Gregor Townsend was forced into a late reshuffle when flanker Hamish Watson was ruled out after returning a positive coronavirus test.

Edinburgh back-row Nick Haining moves into the starting XV and will play on the blindside, with former Southern Knight Rory Darge switching to openside flanker.