Laney have been dropped by coach Matt Williams for Scotland's RBS Six Nations clash with France.
Scotland coach Matt Williams has taken the axe to Scotland's backline, dropping full-back Ben Hinshelwood and centre Brendan Laney from his side to face France in the RBS Six Nations. Wing-forward, Allister Hogg joins Laney on the bench for Sunday's international at Murrayfield, making way for fit-again Cameron Mather, the regular first choice at openside flanker.
Derrick Lee, 30, will make his first international start in two-and-a-half years in place of Hinshelwood while Andy Henderson has been brought in in place of Laney.
Scotland go into the match with morale close to an all-time low in the wake of a 20-14 defeat by Italy in Rome two weeks ago, which followed heavy losses to Wales and England.
Williams had considered moving captain Chris Paterson to either full-back or centre but finally decided to keep him at stand-off. The Australian said Lee and Henderson had earned their promotion to the starting line-up on the strength of their club form.
"Derrick has earned his spot. Hes been in great form for his pro-team and hes been with us in the squad pretty much right through the championship. Andy Henderson has also earned his opportunity through performance, while I'm delighted that Cammie Mather is fit again after his ankle injury sustained against England."
Although Hinshelwood was left out of the squad altogether, Williams stressed that the dropped players were not being blamed for the humiliating loss in Rome. "Our main problem there was our work at breakdown," Williams said.
Meanwhile, France will also field a reshaped side as they seek to set themselves up for next weekend's showdown with England in Paris.
Openside flanker Olivier Magne recovers his starting spot after Imanol Harinordoquy pulled out with an injured elbow and forms a formidable backrow with No 8 Thomas Lievremont and hard-man Serge Betsen.
Magne was dropped from the starting XV for the 29-22 win over Wales in Cardiff earlier this month and replaced by Lievremont, with Harindorquy moving to openside, because coach Bernard Laporte said he was not playing for the team. But he was imprssive when he came on in the second half against Wales.
Dimitri Yachvili takes over at scrum-half from Jean-Baptiste Elissalde who contributed 24 points in Cardiff before tearing his hamstring.
The other change came on the right wing where Vincent Clerc has been dropped to the bench and replaced by Pepito Elhorga.
Despite Scotland's dismal form, French captain Fabien Pelous knows they are always a difficult side to play when their pride is on the line. "Ireland showed us what underdogs can do when they beat England. Away matches in Test rugby are never easy and Scotland have a lot of pride," Pelous said.
But Scotland have not beaten the French since they pulled off a shock victory at the Stade de France in 1999 and the bookmakers do not give them much chance of ending that run on Sunday, making them an 11/2 long shot to win.
Scotland: Derrick Lee (Edinburgh Rugby); Simon Danielli (Bath), Tom Philip (Edinburgh Rugby), Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Rugby), Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby); Chris Paterson capt (Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Cusiter (The Borders); Simon Taylor (Edinburgh Rugby), Cameron Mather (Glasgow Rugby), Jason White (Sale Sharks); Stuart Grimes (Newcastle Falcons), Scott Murray (Edinburgh Rugby); Bruce Douglas (The Borders), Gordon Bulloch (Glasgow Rugby), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby) Replacements: Rob Russell (Saracens), Gavin Kerr (Leeds Tykes), Nathan Hines (Edinburgh Rugby), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh Rugby), Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby), Brendan Laney (Edinburgh Rugby), Dan Parks (Glasgow Rugby)
France: Nicolas Brusque (Biarritz); Pepito Elhorga (Agen), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Pau), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais); Frederick Michalak (Stade Toulousain), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz); Thomas Lievremont (Biarritz), Olivier Magne (Montferrand), Serge Betsen (Biarritz); Pascal Pape (Bourgoin), Fabien Pelous capt (Stade Toulousain); Pieter De Villiers (Stade Francais), William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais). Replacements: Yannick Bru (Stade Toulousain), Jean-Jacques Crenca (Agen), David Auradou (Stade Francais), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Julien Peyrelongue (Biarritz), Clement Poitrenaud (Biarritz), Vincent Clerc (Stade Toulousain) Referee: Scott Young (Aus)
AFP - 2004.