SCOTLAND coach Bryan Easson has urged his team to turn the promising signs of the past two weeks into winning performances in their remaining TikTok Six Nations games.

Easson’s team had won five of their last six matches going into the Championship, but lost heavily to England in round one before going down 24-19 in Cardiff last week. He remains convinced that progress continues to be made, but, after Scotland surrendered a 12-point lead against Wales, thinks it is clear that the next step for the team has to be to become more ruthless.

“We can’t just keep saying we’re getting better,” Easson said yesterday after making two changes to his starting line-up to face France at Scotstoun tomorrow [Sunday]. “It’s about putting points on the board and putting teams to bed that we should be beating, and I think we lost the game last week rather than Wales winning it. 

“We reviewed the Wales game when we came in at the start of the week and it was a tough review. For 50 minutes we were excellent and created some great chances, but we weren’t clinical enough and there were reasons why. 

“We’ve trained well this week and we believe that we can right some wrongs, but also put the positives into a better position. We’re playing good rugby and people will enjoy it if they come along, but we want to start putting teams to the sword rather than just saying we’re performing better.”

As expected, Chloe Rollie returns at full-back after missing the Cardiff match through illness, while in the pack Emma Wassell’s run of 54 consecutive internationals comes to an end because of a wrist injury. Louise McMillan takes over from Wassell and will partner Sarah Bonar in the second row, while Rollie replaces Shona Campbell, who is ill.

“Emma’s injury might have been OK this weekend - she potentially could have played,” the coach explained. “But it might have made her stay out for another two or three weeks, so we just felt that resting it this weekend would give her more of an opportunity to make sure it’s 100 per cent right for the next two games.

“It was the right thing. We had a good discussion around it - Emma is a mature woman who understands. 

“Previously with an 80 per cent fit Emma Wassell we might have said ‘Come on, you need to play’. But we’re growing this group, we have to grow the squad, and it’s a real testament to the group that Sarah and Louise can come in and be as strong.”  

Versatile back Sarah Law returns to the bench and could win her 50th cap if she comes on. Molly Wright, Katie Dougan and Rachel McLachlan also return to the bench, but Hannah Smith is omitted after being unavailable for one day’s training through work commitments.

France, who beat Italy 39-6 in round one then defeated Ireland 40-5, have made nine changes to their starting line-up - an indication of the strength in depth they believe they can draw on. The visitors are ranked No 3 in the world, but they only drew on their last visit to Glasgow, and Easson believes his team are capable of causing an upset.

“They put New Zealand to bed twice in November and they’ve been very good in this tournament,” he said of tomorrow’s opponents. “This will show us where we’re at. We’re confident we’re improving, and we’re confident we can compete against the top sides. We have to push on the performance again, but there’s no reason why we can’t go into the game thinking about winning.”

Scotland (v France at Scotstoun, tomorrow [Sun], 1pm): C Rollie; R Lloyd, E Orr, L Maxwell, M Gaffney; H Nelson, J Maxwell; L Bartlett, L Skeldon, C Belisle, L McMillan, S Bonar, R Malcolm (captain), E Gallagher, J Konkel. Substitutes: J Rettie, M Wright, K Dougan, L O'Donnell, R McLachlan, C Mattinson, S Law, M Smith.

France: E Boulard; M Castel, M Ménager, C Jacquet, M Llorens; J Trémoulière, L Sansus; A Deshaye, L Touyé, A Khalfaoui, C Ferer, M Fall, J Annery, G Hermet (captain), E Gros. Substitutes: C Domain, C Lindelauf, C Joyeux, S N’Diaye, 20. R Ménager, A Chambon, M Peyronnet, G Vernier.