France survive Scottish assault

France were clinical and precise in their 23-17 victory against Scotland, who produced a brave attacking effort at Murrayfield in the Six Nations.

If you are a Scot, you are proud of Scottish efforts at Murrayfield oon Sunday. There was no shortage of commitment and endeavour, and they shared the try-scoring at two-all with France. Of course, it was a game Scotland could have won but for France's greater power up front, that enabled them to put the pressure on at the breakdown and to end dominating the match's messy scrums.

Scotland don't score tries, some people say. They did today - two excellent tries to match two excellent tries by France and neither side looked like getting a third. France enjoyed a better penalty count (10-5) and eventually kicks counted.

There was a full house for the match on a pleasant, warm afternoon in Edinburgh with bagpipes skirling and Frenchmen singing. It was a cheerful day, warm enough for a streaker late in the match.

The match started cheerfully, too, with the white-clad Scots running at the blue-and-black French, and Scotland carried on running throughout, perhaps from too deep to really test the French but burly Graeme Morrison was a force in midfield and fleet-footed young Stuart Hogg always a handful from fullback.

The Scots attacked first but without the sign of a try till they passed badly. That seemed to upset France's organisation for Greig Laidlaw snapped up the loose ball, gave Lee Jones some room and the left wing gave Hogg a straight run down the touchline for a try in the right corner. From far put Laidlaw converted. 7-0 after 9 minutes.

Lively Mike Blair tapped a penalty and raced down the field but without support. Still he got the ball to Rory Lamont. Back came Scotland till Thierry Dusautoir laid Geoff Cross waste to put a shuddering end to Scottish hopes.

But Ross Rennie robbed Imanol Harinordoquy and Scotland attacked again but when they lost the ball ell inside the French 22 Maxime Médard raced free. Vincent Clerc grubbered; Scotland grabbed the ball and countered. It was a wonderful passage of play.

When Dusautoir hung onto Blair who did not have the ball, Laidlaw made it 10-0 after 25 minutes. But in no time France came back.

François Trinh-Duc ran over little Laidlaw and France won quick ball. Wesley Fofana straightened the angle and raced past four Scots to score. 10-7 after 29 minutes.

There was a difference in the speed of delivery from tackles. The Scottish ball was cumbersome and slow, French ball much quicker.

Injuries gave Scotland a rough ride. Rory Lamont was stretchered off with a leg injury and Blair was helped off with a dead leg. Later they would lose Laidlaw as well, giving Duncan Weir an international debut.

Hogg beat Aurélien Rougerie but just before half-time Geoff Cross was penalised at a dilapidated Scottish scrum and Parra made the half-time score 10-10.

When Allan Jacobsen was penalised for a high tackle, Parra gave France the lead for the first time, after 46 minutes. 13-10.

The next two scores were remarkable.

Clerc ran and  somewhere near half way  John Barclay tackled him. A tackle/ruck thing developed and the ball was coming back to France but tackler Barclay rose up, grabbed the ball and gave it to Nick  De Luca who raced away,. De Luca gave to another substitute in Richie Vernon who sent Lee Jones, Welsh sounding but from Selkirk, and the left wing raced over for a try. 17-13 after 56 minutes.

The French were  taken aback by the try as they expected Barclay to be penalised. He was a tackler but it may well have been ruck.

French confusion did not last long for Pascal Papé was strong on the half-way line and the ball went wide to big Julien Malzieu who ran over Jones and played inside to Médard who sprinted 30 metres for a try at the posts. 20-17 after 58 minutes.

From the kick-off Hogg raced away but as with Blair in the first half and Cusiter just before him there was no support.

Médard was helped off the field and replaced by Lionel Beauxis who went to flyhalf with Trinh-Duc at fullback.

France did a lot of pick-'n-drive and then played to Beauxis who dropped a goal, as he often does. 23-17 with 12 minutes to go. A missed penalty by Beauxis was the nearest either side came to scoring in those 12 minutes.

Man of the Match: Ross Rennie, the Scottish flank, a clever poacher.

Moment of the Match: Maxime Médard's match-winning try.

Villain of the Match: Nobody, unless it was the streaker.

Scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries: Hogg, Jones
Cons: Laidlaw, Weir
Pen: Laidlaw

For France:

Tries: Fofana, Médard
Cons: Parra 2
Pens: Parra 2, Beauxis

The teams:

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Rory Lamont, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Greig Laidlaw, 9 Mike Blair, 8 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford (captain), 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Duncan Weir, 22 Nick De Luca.

France: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Pazrra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Lionel Beauxis, 22 Maxime Mermoz.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)

By Paul Dobson