Chris Paterson will become the first Scotland player to feature in four World Cups after he was named in a strong starting line-up for the Pool B clash against Romania on Saturday.
The 33-year-old will start the Invercargill contest at full-back in place of Rory Lamont as coach Andy Robinson makes eight changes to the side that defeated Italy last month.
Mike Blair retains his place at scrum-half and will play alongside fly-half Ruaridh Jackson while Sean Lamont and Joe Ansbro form the centre pairing.
There is a revamped front row, with props Alan Jacobsen and Geoff Cross recalled while Ross Ford replaces Scott Lawson at hooker to win his 50th cap.
Second row Nathan Hines is named on the bench to make way for Richie Gray.
Four players from the starting XV that played in Scotland's final match of the 2007 World Cup, a 19-13 quarter-final defeat by Argentina, will start on Saturday - Ford, Blair, Danielli and Evans.
"We have picked a strong side," said head coach Andy Robinson. "There is competition for places and we could easily have picked another XV, as we did in the warm-up games."
"As ever, our key objective this weekend is to win the game and thus get a foothold in the tournament."
"We really respect Romania, who are a young side who are developing together. For us we've trained really well in the last three months and it's now about going out and delivering.''
Scotland team: Chris Paterson; Max Evans, Joe Ansbro, Sean Lamont, Simon Danielli; Ruaridh Jackson, Mike Blair; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Richie Gray, Alastair Kellock (capt), Kelly Brown, John Barclay, Richie Vernon.
Replacements: Scott Lawson, Alasdair Dickinson, Nathan Hines, Ross Rennie, Chris Cusiter, Dan Parks, Rory Lamont.
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