Williams the third Welsh captain in as many games

Three different captains in three games? Anybody would think Welsh rugby is in a bit of a mess at the moment. And it got messier still yesterday when the coach, Steve Hansen, was forced to call on Martyn Williams to carry that most poisoned of chalices.

Not that the Cardiff openside is not a worthy recipient of the armband left vacant by Jonathan Humphreys' shoulder injury for tomorrow's match with Scotland at Murrayfield. Indeed, Williams has been Wales's best performer in the Six Nations to date, often putting his head in where other flankers fear to trample as he proved in the gutsy defeat against England a fortnight ago.

Hansen has kept faith with the majority of that side, bringing in only the Bridgend hooker Gareth Williams to replace Humphreys and returning Stephen Jones to No 10. The Llanelli fly-half's broken thumb has healed in time to displace Ceri Sweeney, the Pontypridd youngster desperately unlucky not even to make the bench.

Someone who did earn an unexpected reprieve yesterday was Scott Murray, the lock dropped from the Scotland squad at the start of the week but picked in the team to face Wales yesterday. Martin Leslie's withdrawal meant that the coach, Ian McGeechan, had to shuffle his pack and move Jason White – Murray's replacement – to blindside and reinstate the relieved Edinburgh man.

There were also blushing faces in a backline which has still to record Scotland's first try of the competition but which was left largely unaltered by McGeechan. He has moved Gregor Townsend's invention to fly-half to replace the injured Brendan Laney, while James McClaren fills the hole at No 13.