As feared, Scotland have been forced into a sixth change for the RBS Six Nations Championship match against Ireland, John Barclay, the openside flanker, being ruled out by a freak accident that left him with a deep cut to his hand. His loss means that Ross Rennie, his Edinburgh rival, is almost certain to win his debut cap after being named on the bench for Saturday’s game at Croke Park.

It was, Rennie admitted yesterday, a moment that he did not expect to see this year, such is the depth of competition for back row places. If he does come on, he will be the seventh back row player Scotland have used in three games – Simon Taylor will probably become the eighth if he comes through club matches in the next fortnight and is available to face England.

The news was broken to Rennie by the Scotland management in stages yesterday; first, he was warned in the morning that he was in line for a place on the bench, then it was confirmed in the afternoon after the medics had had a look at the cut on Barclay’s finger – the result of a friend accidentally sitting on his hand while he was holding a glass – and decided that it was too deep to risk letting him play.

“It is really unfortunate what has happened to John [Barclay], really sad, but it means I am lucky enough to have been given a chance and I hope to make something of it,” Rennie said yesterday.

“I’m trying to prepare for this game as I would for any other, just concentrating on preparing properly. I don’t think I will understand the magnitude of it until I am there. At the moment I am just trying to do everything I can for the team. It will be a massive hon-our if I do get on the pitch and get my first cap.”

If he does come on, then Mike Blair, the new captain, is in do doubt that he will do well by his country. “He is a fantastic player,” was his verdict on his Edinburgh club-mate. “He has enthusiasm and workrate, he is always offering himself in attack and defence. As a scrum half and a playmaker that is the kind of player that you want to play with.”

For Blair, far from being daunted by his first experience of international captaincy, he seems to be relishing the task in hand, rigidly refusing to allow too much talk about the negative aspects of the last performances against France and Wales and promising a resolute attack on the Irish on Saturday.

“We don’t want to get the negative stuff in our heads too much, we are looking to relax against Ireland, play some rugby and not worry about errors and throw our game on to them,” he said. “We have had a couple of bad performances, and we are well aware how tough this game is going to be – we have not won [in Dublin] in a decade – so in that sense it takes the pressure off. We will be massive underdogs for the game, which is a role we are comfortable in, and all we can do is go out, throw everything in and see what happens.”

Not that Blair expects anybody to see any difference in his demeanour or attitude on the pitch, pointing out that as scrum half he is making a lot of the tactical decisions anyway and the team talk before the game is likely to be about the detail of how the game should be played rather than any tub-thumping, over-the-top exhibition of emotional patriotism.

“We have not played enough rugby, have not shown our hands in the first two games, so there is a bit of pressure that comes with the position,” Blair accepted. “It is about getting the right balance, a couple of things have not been working out and individual errors have caused a lot of problems.

“I am excited by the team we have got available to us this week and hopefully we will be able to click, combine well and produce some good attacking rugby. The players are very clear in their minds what they are trying to do."

Scotland team

H Southwell (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), S Webster (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow), R Lamont (Sale Sharks); C Paterson (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh; capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), N Hines (Perpignan), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), A Strokosch (Gloucester), A Hogg (Edinburgh), K Brown (Glasgow). Replacements: F Thomson (Glasgow), G Kerr (Edinburgh), J Hamilton (Leicester), R Rennie (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Perpignan), D Parks (Glasgow), N De Luca (Edinburgh).

Italy ring changes

Andrea Marcato stands in for David Bortolussi, the injured full back, in the Italy team to face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. Marcato, normally a fly half, will add to his tally of four caps. Salvatore Perugini wins his 50th cap at prop in place of Andrea Lo Cicero. Simon Picone, the scrum half, has been rewarded for his solid performance against England and will start against Wales ahead of Pietro Travagli. A Marcato (Treviso); A Sgarbi (Treviso), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français), E Galon (Overmach Parma); A Masi (Biarritz), S Picone (Treviso); S Perugini (Toulouse), L Ghiraldini (Calvisano), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Biarritz), C A Del Fava (Ulster), J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), S Parisse (Stade Français, captain). Replacements: C Festuccia (Racing-Metro), A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro), M Bortolami (Gloucester), A Zanni (Calvisano), P Travagli (Overmach Parma), P Buso (Calvisano), E Patrizio (Petrarca Padova).