Worcester Warriors fly-half Duncan Weir could win his first cap under Gregor Townsend as Scotland coach after being named on the bench to face France.

The 28-year-old made the last of his 27 appearances in 2017, before his former Glasgow Warriors team boss took charge.

Nick Haining replaces Edinburgh team-mate Magnus Bradbury at number eight as the 29-year-old makes his second start.

Fraser Brown will earn his 50th cap as the Glasgow Warriors hooker is chosen ahead of Stuart McInally.

In the third change to the XV that beat Italy, Grant Gilchrist takes over from Ben Toolis in the second row for his his first start in this season's tournament.

South Africa-born Glasgow centre Kyle Steyn is likely to make his Scotland debut after being named among the replacements, along with Sam Skinner, who has not featured since picking up a hamstring injury just days before the World Cup last year.

France head to Edinburgh sitting top of the table after three wins, with Scotland fifth after that sole 17-0 victory in Rome.

The nations traded warm-up wins ahead of the World Cup, while Scotland were victorious in the Six Nations meetings at Murrayfield in 2016 and 2018.

Weir is given his chance amid the continued absence of Finn Russell.

The Racing 92 first-choice has missed Scotland's three matches in the tournament after being disciplined for a breach of squad protocol in January.

Weir played under Townsend at Glasgow but left for Edinburgh a year before the coach himself moved to the national side and has not featured since four appearances as a replacement in 2017.

Australia-born Haining earned his first cap when he started in Scotland's opening Six Nations defeat away to Ireland and was a replacement against England.

"We face a France team that looks galvanised since the World Cup, with a potential Grand Slam in their sights," said Townsend.

"We have a lot of respect for their coaching team and the quality of player they possess throughout their squad, many of them just in their early stages of their international careers. We're going to have to deliver our best rugby of the championship in order to beat a team in such good form.

"France's victories have been built on an aggressive and well-organised defence, so the precision, decision-making and effort in our attacking game will have to be very good in order to get in behind them."

Scotland XV to face France

Hogg (captain); Maitland, Harris, Johnson, Kinghorn; Hastings, Price; Sutherland, Brown, Z Fagerson; Cummings; Gilchrist, Ritchie, Watson, Haining.

Replacements: McInally, Dell, Nel, Skinner, Bradbury, G Horne, Weir, Steyn,