DUNCAN Paterson, manager of Scotland's rugby team, and his fellow

selectors played a oneupmanship card yesterday by naming an unchanged XV

for the Royal Bank international against Wales at Murrayfield a week on

Saturday. Effectively, they said that their Scots, even in defeat in

Paris, were good enough to beat the only country left with a Grand Slam

chance.

After the announcement Paterson added flesh to the bare bones of the

statement of the XV, though he avoided going into the detailed anatomy

of how Scotland can turn defeat by France into victory over Wales. It

was enough that the Paris performance was heartening, even if the result

was disappointing.

''In my experience, as a player and official, we played as well as

we've ever done in Paris,'' the team manager suggested, echoing the

national view with good reason. His memories of playing internationals

in Paris -- when he was Gala's scrum half -- go back to 1971, the last

time Scotland were at the old Colombes stadium before the French Rugby

Federation moved to Parc des Princes.

Scotland have lost all 11 internationals played in Paris in that time.

Yet on Saturday the Scots played well enough to deserve to have won.

''We had set-piece control,'' the team manager remarked, ''and that's

very difficult in Paris.''

Paterson was also enthusiastic about how the current players have

developed as a squad. ''As senior players move on, responsibility

shifts, and that's coming,'' he explained.

It was a particularly edifying remark when less than a couple of

months ago he complained that players such as Paul Burnell, now

Scotland's longest-serving forward with 27 caps, had not assumed more

responsibility within the squad. The more senior players, it seems, have

now gathered round Gavin Hastings to support the new captain in a way

that satisfies the manager.

Paterson was, too, highly complimentary of how newcomers such as Derek

Stark and Andy Reed have adjusted to

the demands of international rugby. Stark, the Boroughmuir wing who

scored a debut try against Ireland last month, has been ''a

revelation,'' as has Reed, the Bath lock who has assumed the role of

Scotland's principal lineout source. ''We have the nucleus of a very

good team,'' Paterson claimed, ''as long as we learn.''

No one would deny that Scotland have to learn from the lessons of

Paris, not least the need to generate more regularly sharp possession

from breakdown ball. That, I am convinced, was the root cause of the

midfield backs' failure to exploit the pressure Scotland had in the

first 50 minutes in Paris.

It did not help the cause that Craig Chalmers and Graham Shield tended

to lie too flat, assuming the alignment that has besotted British rugby

since the Wallabies won the last World Cup. That Australian format

cannot work without fast possession, and Scotland had too little of that

in Paris.

Paterson also drew comfort from Scotland's excellent Murrayfield

record -- a source of pride.

Since the 1988 Australians' victory, Scotland have won 15 home

internationals and lost only two, both against England in successive

Murrayfield matches, first the World Cup semi-final in October, 1991,

and then the Calcutta Cup match in January last year. The last time

Scotland lost to Wales at Murrayfield was in 1985, before even the

currently longest-serving Scots, Gavin and Scott Hastings, had made

their international debuts.

With Scotland unchanged, Peter Wright, Boroughmuir's tight head, will

have another international as left prop. Even as third choice, he

thoroughly merits the chance after his Paris game, a performance that

marked him as one emerging in versatility.

Derek Turnbull, Hawick's blind-side wing forward, also remains despite

his cracked left pinkie. The injury will be assessed again when the

Scots meet for a Murrayfield practice on Sunday, though the medical

opinion is that the finger will have recovered by Saturday week even if

it has to be strapped to its neighbour.

Wales are to name their team today, and they have even more reason to

be unchanged after their 10-9 victory over England at Cardiff on

Saturday. It was a result that lifted Welsh rugby from the pit of

despair into which it had slumped in 1991, and it also spiked England's

expectation of a third successive Grand Slam.

Apropos that Cardiff match, a brief conversation on the Dunfermline

touchline during the schools' district match on Tuesday summed up a

Scotsman's view of England's loss. The initial comment sympathised with

Ian Hunter, the Northampton wing who, after the international, needed

surgery to replace damaged tear ducts. The response was that the rest of

England's team would need similar operations: ''Their tear ducts will be

worn out by now.'' Scotland's XV:

A G Hastings (Watsonians), captain; A G Stanger (Hawick), S Hastings

(Watsonians), A G Shiel (Melrose), D A Stark (Boroughmuir); C M Chalmers

(Melrose), G Armstrong (Jed-Forest); P H Wright (Boroughmuir), K S Milne

(Heriot's FP), A P Burnell, D F Cronin (both London Scottish), A I Reed

(Bath), D J Turnbull (Hawick), G W Weir (Melrose), I R Morrison (London

Scottish). Replacements - K M Logan (Stirling County), G P J Townsend

(Gala), A D Nicol (Dundee HS FP), C D Hogg (Melrose), G R Isaac, I

Corcoran (both Gala).