Sam Warburton: Ready for big challenge from Scotland

Wales star Sam Warburton is looking forward to "the big job" of subduing Scotland's back-row at Murrayfield this weekend.

Warburton has insisted that regaining the Wales captaincy will not be a personal motivating factor on Saturday, despite starting an Six Nations Test match for the first time in almost two years with a team-mate skippering the side.

That duty remains with his back-row colleague Ryan Jones - as it will for next week's England clash, barring injury or loss of form - after he helped orchestrate back-to-back away victories over France and Italy.

Warburton, though, is adamant he will not be distracted from his role of trying to keep Wales in title contention through collecting a third successive away win during this season's tournament.

"The Scottish back-row is very big and physical, so maybe that has influenced the decision to play me at seven," said Warburton, who has replaced Justin Tipuric after recovering from a shoulder injury.

"That is a challenge I really enjoy. Every time we play Scotland a focal point is always the battle of the back-rows because theirs is so good.

"We know it will be a big job for me, Toby (Faletau) and Ryan (Jones) to nullify their threats, but we will try to figure out a way to get the better of them over the next few days because that back-row battle is so important now in the modern game.

"I would imagine both teams will want to play at the weekend. Both teams have some pretty good backs they want to release, so the speed of ball will be interesting.

"It will be a big area for us as a team to win that back-row battle."

Wales boss Rob Howley has admitted that Warburton, who is seven years Jones' junior and has won exactly half his 72 caps, was left "disappointed" by the captaincy decision.

But Wales' 2011 World Cup skipper, who led them to Six Nations title glory and a Grand Slam last season, added: "Getting the captaincy back won't be a motivating factor. It will just be to play well for the side.

"Ryan has done a great job over the last two weeks, and I don't see any need to change the team dynamics.

"It has obviously worked for us over the last couple of weekends, but Rob's said I can still have an input. It's not just Ryan on his own - he needs other guys.

"I might look closely at the contact area and how the referee is managing that, Adam Jones the scrum and Alun-Wyn (Jones) the lineout. It just makes sense to keep Ryan as captain.

"Ryan is the best captain I've played under, so I have no qualms with him leading the side. He has a wealth of experience and tactically he's very clued in."

Warburton's return apart, Howley has made two other changes, with prop Paul James replacing an injured Gethin Jenkins and Wyn Jones preferred to Andrew Coombs at lock.