Current form as well as recognised class was reflected in the changes made to the Scotland team for Saturday's Calcutta Cup match, as Graeme Morrison and Simon Taylor were brought into the starting line-up.

It was a similar situation on the bench as Jason White - like Taylor a member of Scotland's 50-cap club - was reintroduced along with Morrison's recent A international team-mates Rory Lawson, Ally Dickinson and Craig Smith.

Yet with 13 of the XV that started a match 11 days ago at Dublin's Croke Park in which Scotland leaked five tries, it was an almost defiant selection, suggesting the management still believe that tweaking rather than a major overhaul in thinking is what is required.

Such is the regard Frank Hadden, the head coach, has for two-time British & Irish Lion Taylor, that his recall was all but automatic as soon as he proved his fitness.

"I've described him as the ultimate warrior before because I was trying to think back the last time I saw him have a poor game," said Hadden. "I think I've only seen him play poorly once in his career. He is a guy that never, ever lets you down and I have enormous confidence in his ability to step up to the plate on Saturday."

By contrast, Morrison comes in for a player Hadden has previously shown deep faith in.

"I think I've picked Andy Henderson more than just about any other player since I became Scotland coach and he is an incredibly consistent performer, but I just couldn't ignore the way Graeme played in the two A games," the coach explained. "He was outstanding in both matches. It wasn't a reflection on Andy's performance in Ireland, because as usual he produced exactly what you expect of him.

"Graeme is a far more athletic player than Andy. He has a couple of caps under his belt and over the last couple of years I would say he'll be frustrated at not getting opportunities and I expect him to really turn it on this Saturday."

There are echoes of the decision made at the beginning of the campaign when Dave Callam was preferred at No.8 to Ally Hogg, his club captain who had been keeping him out of the Edinburgh side, for the opening match against France.

That has since been acknowledged as a mistake, yet this time Morrison is being picked ahead of the man almost always preferred to him for the No.12 jersey by Glasgow Warriors. Admittedly there is a difference in that Morrison has behind him a string of matches in which he has played well and been on the winning side with Scotland A then Glasgow Warriors.

Morrison himself is also of the view that, four years after his last start in a Test match, he is now much better-equipped to deal with the situation.

"I have been dropped and recalled from the Scotland squad over the years and have had to learn to deal with it, get my head down and keep plugging away," the 25-year-old said. "I thought that one day it may pay dividends and thankfully it has.

"The key is to play well at club level. There is a temptation to let your head drop and give up but it is easy to keep positive with the team-mates I have got.

"I definitely feel more ready now. My first cap came during my first season as a full-time pro. Many, including myself, may say I was not ready for it, but for the last five seasons I have been playing with the likes of Muffles Henderson and Dan Parks against quality opposition and have matured as a player. I am definitely more ready now than I have been."

Morrison has never played against England but has been on the winning side for Scotland, and on the Murrayfield pitch on the weekend of a Calcutta Cup win, the answer to that little conundrum indicating just how much it would mean to him to win on Saturday. He had played for the under-19s that weekend, but for that Sunday Test in 2000 was among those crowd members who joyously joined in the pitch invasion at the end.

"The weather conditions were awful but I remember the feeling that everybody in Scotland had at that win. I'd be over the moon with another result like that," he grinned.

Henderson, and perhaps even moreso Chris Cusiter, Gav Kerr and Ross Rennie, all dropped from the bench having had relatively little opportunity to make an impact on matches so far, are entitled to feel rather hard done by.

In the circumstances, the changes to the bench seem utterly disproportionate, while John Barclay also has further reason to rue the bizarre incident in which he cut his hand when a glass was crushed into it thus costing him his place ahead of the Ireland match.

In contrast to that, the back three must all feel they have to work much harder to impose themselves and are lucky that injury to Sean Lamont, allied to Chris Paterson and Simon Webster moving infield, has greatly reduced options in that department.