French indiscipline helps the Scots run riot in Murrayfield.

Andrew Heffernan

Scotland took on France in the Murrayfield sunshine in the early kick-off in the Guinness Six Nations. With Scotland on a three-game win streak and France on for a Grand Slam, both teams were gunning to win. A crunch game which could tilt the championship in any which way. 

It was a lightning-quick start for the Scots, with the French looking out of sorts early. Uncharacteristic errors put Scotland in a fantastic position, ultimately leading to the first try after a typical Finn Russell phase of play. Russell dropped the ball backwards in the pocket but made up for it with a sumptuous offload, which set Darcy Graham through a hole and under the sticks to make the conversion as easy as you like for Russell, who made it 7-0 after 4 minutes. 

At 7-0 though, the French had chances to level up. A chip and chase by Louis Bielle Biarrey caused panic among the Scottish ranks. Theo Atissogbe found the outside and burned Graham, but his kick ahead was not what it needed to be. Eventually, the French did breach the Scottish rearguard, and it was the French captain Antoine Dupont who was at the heart of it. Dupont ripped the ball away from Sione Tuipolotu inside the Scottish 22, seconds later Bielle Biarrey was over in the corner. There was a question of a knock on from Dupont after the strip but the try was cleard by the TMO and Thomas Ramos dispatched the extra. 

The French began to purr on the Murrayfield turf after Dupont’s magic. A lineout won expertly at the tail resulted in Ramos being on the edge, kicking in behind for Atissogbe to dot down and give the French a seven-point lead. 

The lead didn’t last long as 3 minutes later, Scotland were awarded a penalty for an off-the-ball tackle, which Russell dispatched to within 5 metres. What happened next was pure class. The lineout from George Turner was perfect, a maul was a decoy as Turner broke off inside and popped it back on the outside to Kyle Steyn, who burst into a gap and dotted down. Russell skewed the extras wide. 14-12 to the French. 

The old enemy of French Rugby reared its head again in the last ten minutes of the first half. Their discipline disappeared, a pair of playing the nine calls had referee Angus Gardener chatting to Dupont and issuing France their final warning from the resulting penalty, Scotland would draw another penalty against Mathieu Jalibert, which gave the Scots the go-ahead to run hard and straight with Pierre Schoeman getting low enough to cross the whitewash. With that try the Scots would take a 19-14 lead and see Jaliibert go to the bin. That is how the first half would end, a pulsating first half in Murrayfield. After Fabien Galthie’s comments during the week about the size and structure of Murrayfield’s away changing room, the team talk at half-time was sure to have been a spicy one. 

The start of the second half was much of the same for Scotland. French discipline again was not helping; a high tackle allowed Scotland to chip into the five metre channel, which resulted in a brilliant carry from Zander Fagerson, who took three French defenders with him, which opened the space up for the Scottish number nine Ben White to snipe through the gap and dot down to extend the Scottish lead to twelve. 

The French’s day would go from bad to worse a few minutes later. The best player in the world Dupont made a rare error as he passed the ball straight to Kyle Steyn, who raced into the corner to score Scotland’s fifth try of the day. Credit has to be given to Ben White, who hit Dupont on the arm, which affected the pass and helped Scotland open up a 33-14 lead. 

This game would turn into a mauling soon after as the French would let Dracy Graham in for his second try of the day, a botched set play turned into brilliance as Graham would step a player and race under the sticks, Lenni Nouchi would also go to the bin after another warning from the ref, for collapsing the scrum. Scotland would make it lucky number seven three minutes later as Tom Jordan would race through the middle after a bizarre decision by Dupont to carry it over his own line and then passed it forward, giving the Scots a five metre scrum which allowed Tuipilotu to throw a no-look pass to Jordan.  

Dupont would get over for a try after brilliance by Atissogbe and Jalibert down the outside allowed Dupont to run his patented support line on the inside of the winger and dot down for a try that would give France hope of leaving Murrayfield with at least a point. 

The complexion of the championship would change yet again as the French would get their bonus point try. A great line by Peata Mauvaka would allow quick ball for Ramos to crash over and grab an incredibly important try for France. France would get over for another try through Oscar Jegou, Josh Bayliss would go to the bin for a cynical slap down in the ruck, would allow Bapiste Serin to tap it quick and Jegou would go over in the corner. Thomas Ramos would put a gloss on the scoreboard after dotting down with the clock in the red. Bielle Biarrey would burst through a hole and offload to Ramos, who would stroll in under the sticks to make the final score 50-40 to the home side. Arguably the greatest Scottish performance during the Gregor Townsend era. 

A phenomenal game of rugby in Murrayfield, which produced thirteen tries between the pair of sides, whets the appetite for next week’s crunch games in the final round of the Six Nations. Scotland travel to Dublin to take on Ireland, and France return to the Stade De France to take on Steve Borthwick’s England, with the championship still a three-horse race.