The inglorious Bastareaud? © Getty Images

Up in Scotland we have a notoriously one-eyed local paper, the Press and Journal. Everything in its hallowed pages is found to have something to do with its home town, Aberdeen, or the surrounding area.

Several of the Scotland team are favoured, having once plied their rugby trade in Aberdeen, such as Chris Cusiter, Jason White and new flavours of the month Ruaridh Jackson and Moray Low (who is from Moray - what they would do if they found out Dougie Hall was from Dingwall I can only guess). Legend has it that when the Titanic went down, the headline was "North East Man Lost at Sea". This was till now their most famous headline. However when looking through their Six Nations preview today, I saw the following, surely deserving of the title: "Stopping the inglorious Bastareaud".

In addition to being a fine example of headline writing, I think this goes to the heart of Scotland's troubles on Sunday. We, Scotland, have a fairly lightweight back division and a pack that while beefy is not massive in the absence of Murray and Hamilton. France have picked their usual heavyweights up front while the likes of Bastareaud, Jauzion and Rougerie all have size on their side against their opposite numbers. Trinh Duc likes a batter too. It looks like France aim to go through rather than around Scotland. Our defence was solid against Australia, but can it hold up a second time against a beefier attack?

Discounting the French as poor travellers would be rash, after all they travelled well enough to New Zealand in the summer. But Scotland will need a strong support to lift them during the long periods of defence, and an extra measure of precision will be required on the odd occasion they have possession and space. As they discovered in the autumn, every kick and pass matter at this level. Being okay is no longer acceptable. Thom and Max Evans will relish the opportunity to play together again and prove themselves more than one season wonders, while I hope that Phil Godman has the will to prove his doubters wrong and really fire that backline. If the ball gets out past Morrison more often than not, then we should be able to at least trouble the French, and with a little bit of luck (and 99-cap Chris Paterson) anything could happen.

If it rains, the pundits will say it favours the Scots, but this - as it has been for seasons now - would be inaccurate. Scotland want to play a fast, offloading game and go wide when possible. Like ze French flair, no? If it rains, conditions will more likely favour the current crop of Les Bleus and their inglorious batterers.

Rory Baldwin is the Editor of Scottish Rugby Blog.