The problems facing Frank Hadden increased yesterday when Jason White, his captain, was ruled out of Scotland's match against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, but the head coach was at least able to recall Rory Lamont and Simon Webster and switch Chris Paterson to fly half in place of Dan Parks.

Hadden has made four changes to the side beaten by Wales 11 days ago, when White was concussed. He has brought Scott MacLeod in at lock for Jim Hamilton and Alasdair Strokosch into a back row in which two positions are unfilled, pending the fitness of John Barclay. Kelly Brown, Allister Hogg and Ross Rennie may play.

After the lacklustre performance in Cardiff, Hadden has demoted Nick De Luca, the centre, to the bench, while Mike Blair takes over the captaincy. “There is a strong collective desire to produce a performance that will lead us to a win,” Hadden said.

Eddie O'Sullivan, the Ireland coach, has dropped Geordan Murphy from his side to face the Scots at Croke Park and is sweating over the fitness of Brian O'Driscoll, the captain, who has strained a calf muscle in training. Luke Fitzgerald is on standby. Murphy is replaced on the wing by Tommy Bowe, of Ulster, while Paul O'Connell, the inspirational lock who missed the first two rounds of the championship with a back problem, returns on the bench. Mick O'Driscoll did enough as a replacement against France 11 days ago to win selection at lock ahead of Malcolm O'Kelly, who is not in the 22.

Dublin teams

Ireland: G Dempsey (Leinster); T Bowe (Ulster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), A Trimble (Ulster), R Kearney (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (London Wasps); M Horan (Munster), B Jackman (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: R Best (Ulster), T Buckley (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets), P Stringer (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), S Horgan (Leinster).

Scotland: H Southwell (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), S Webster (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), R Lamont (Sale Sharks); C Paterson (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh, captain); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), N Hines (Perpignan), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), A Strokosch (Gloucester), J Barclay (Glasgow) or R Rennie (Edinburgh), A Hogg (Edinburgh) or K Brown (Glasgow).

Replacements: F Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), G Kerr (Edinburgh), J Hamilton (Leicester), A N Other, C Cusiter (Perpignan), D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), N De Luca (Edinburgh).