Scotland's club coaches have swung the axe over players whose discipline let them down last weekend, contributing to the dreadful performances that saw both Glasgow and Edinburgh lose their opening games in the Heineken Cup. At Glasgow, Kelly Brown, the Scotland flanker, has plenty of company because half of the pack is also dropped. At Edinburgh, Matt Mustchin, the lock, is on his own after a stupid trip ended his team's fightback.

On the positive side, both clubs have key players back as they try to rescue their European campaigns against French opposition: Glasgow at home tomorrow to Toulouse, the French champions and last season's losing Heineken Cup finalists; Edinburgh away to Castres on Saturday. Glasgow welcome back both Dan Parks, the leading points scorer in the Magners League, and Thom Evans, the season's leading try scorer, while Edinburgh are pleased that Ben Cairns, the Scotland outside centre, has recovered from the knee injury that has kept him out this season.

The big axe has fallen at Glasgow where Brown is one of four forwards to go. Moray Low, the Scotland squad prop, has been dropped to the bench, Opeta Palepoi, the Samoa lock, is out of the squad altogether, and Justin Va'a, the prop, has had to fly back to New Zealand following a family bereavement but would have been on the bench. Behind, Colin Gregor and Hefin O'Hare make way for Parks and Evans.

Leaving out Brown allows Sean Lineen, the head coach, to pick one of his exciting youngsters, Richie Vernon, for his first competitive start of the season, a culture shock for the 21-year-old whose last start was in a domestic club game for West of Scotland in front of about 300 people at Ayr. “It will be a massive change, this is a long way from anything I am used to. I started the season a lot more confident with myself that I could perform at this level, so I am so glad to get a chance this weekend to show what I could do,” he said.

Lineen is fed up with the pack allowing itself to be bullied. “Our forwards are just not fronting up,” he said yesterday. “It is not just in attack, it is in defence as well. We have a very good lineout, our scrum has been up and down and we are working on that, but in general play we are just not physical enough and it is hurting us. We are not getting any momentum. We need to toughen up there. They know that.

“There has to be a reaction from the players, but it can't be just for ten minutes, it has to be for the whole game. We just can't back off. The players have had that pride in what they have done in the last couple of years, but we can't look back. We must get to the level we were last season against Biarritz where there was real body-on-the-line stuff and no backward steps.”

Lineen refused to make the direct link between dropping Brown, a strong contender for next month's Scotland side, and his yellow card for a ruck offence last week, but the fact is that Glasgow were leading 10-6 when he went off and 17-10 down by the time he came back.

In contrast, Andy Robinson, the head coach at Edinburgh, pulled no punches in keeping Mustchin out. “We discussed it and felt it was the right call to leave him out for one match,” he said. “He was disappointed with his actions, if you trip somebody the law states that you should be sent off and he accepts it was a disappointing act from him and he has apologised to the squad. I cannot fault his attitude since then but it is important as a squad that we do have standards. It was just mindless, he is not a dirty player but it is right for us to make a statement and now that we have done that, it is time to move on.”

Robinson is also looking for a reaction from his players, hoping that by giving another chance to almost the same side as the one that flopped last weekend, they will find the consistency they need and cut out the blunders that cost them that match in a 17-minute spell.

Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans; D Parks, M McMillan; K Tkachuk, D Hall, E Kalman, D Turner, A Kellock (capt), R Vernon, J Barclay, J Beattie. Replacements from: M Low, P McArthur, T Barker, S Swindall, K Brown, C Gregor, R Jackson, H O'Hare, A Henderson.

Edinburgh: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, N De Luca, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, J Hamilton, S Newlands, A MacDonald, A Hogg. Replacements: A Kelly, G Kerr, B Gissing, S Cross, G Laidlaw, D Blair, J Houston.