How, Scotland, did you blow that? This team should come with a blood pressure warning.
Having played with fire when nearly blowing a huge lead in Cardiff the week before this time Scotland were scorched, despite having been the superior team throughout against a continually out-of-sorts France.
Yes, in the end Scotland were a clear camera angle away from snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, with one of the longest TMO reviews in history simply unable to show conclusively whether Sam Skinner had grounded the ball over the line. Was it a try? Almost certainly, but without enough evidence it simply could not be given and Scotland, perhaps fittingly given their failure to close the game out when it was in their hands, were crushed.
Of course the final call by TMO must have infuriated Gregor Townsend and his coaching staff, but so will the sense that Scotland were the better side by some margin over the course of the game, attacking with greater purpose and playing with far more control than France, only to come up short.
Their undoing was always going to be whether they had enough points on the scoreboard to show for their earlier efforts, turning down three possible shots at the posts at the end of the first half and coming away with nothing, apart from France going down to 14 players following a yellow card against Uini Atonio for a no-arms tackle on Matt Fagerson.
The cruel answer was that Scotland had not capitalised on their dominance, and France as a result sucker-punched Scotland through a superb chip-and-chase try by Louis Bielle-Biarrey to take the lead for the first time in the 70th minute to jolt their stuttering championship into life.
The healthy number of travelling French supporters inside Murrayfield were understandably indignant with a first-half decision to not penalise Duhan van der Merwe for either a high tackle or being offside – or perhaps both – after he stopped a charging Gael Fickou metres short of the line. In the end, that proved to not be the game’s great moment of controversy.
Finn Russell’s control of the game off the boot deserves recognition, in one of his best Tests, and the bite Scotland’s ball-carriers showed was the difference between the two sides when Scotland were on top, making more ground through their forwards – particularly George Turner and Matt Fagerson – along with their excellent centre Sione Tuipulotu.
Harry Paterson, drafted in late for a debut at full-back, was influential in Ben White’s opening try with a fine sidestep and offload, before the scrum-half somehow held off two tacklers as he slid over. Paterson’s debut came after Kyle Steyn’s wife had gone into labour, with the uncapped full-back getting the confirmation that he would be starting at 10 in the morning. Townsend glowingly described it as “one of the best debuts I’ve seen” from the 22-year-old, noting the quality of the opposition backline along with the wet conditions.
France are clearly working through a few issues, and while their problems do not all stem from the absence of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, given the gradual implementation of a fresh attacking system under new assistant Patrick Arlettaz and injuries in the second row, of course you are going to struggle without the world’s best player in Dupont on the field.
Their attack looked desperately flat save for two moments Patrick Arlettaz Bierre-Biarrey’s superb try, and capitalising after a turnover from Francois Cros to produce enough strong carries to suck in Scotland’s defence and give Gael Fickou, the eventual player of the match, an acre of space in which to score.
The second half was largely dismal, stacked with errors compared to the quality of the first 40, as France focussed on a long-range kicking strategy which stalled Scotland’s attacking momentum but did not have a major impact on the score itself until the end, only providing those absurd pauses in play before each kick as players stood like statues not wanting to be ruled offside. Townsend afterwards described it as “a terrible part of the game”, adding “we don’t want to be a team which takes part in that”.
The game desperately needed a thunderbolt of quality with Bielle-Bierrey answering the call, and when Ramos added a further three points off the boot suddenly France had a buffer and Scotland were short on time.
Now all seemed lost for Scotland until a threatening break from the lively Kyle Rowe, followed by brilliant pressure on Nolann Le Garrec at the back of a ruck by Russell to win the ball back and set up the concluding, chaotic attack which ultimately came to nothing.
Of course you can understand Scotland’s ire with the final decision, but this game as a whole will force them to ask significant questions internally about their struggles to close out the tight games which matter. Because otherwise, how can a clearly talented group become a genuine force? Having had so much control early on they then fell into France’s kicking-game trap and paid the price. Even with the enticing chance to put things right against England in a fortnight, this loss is going to bitterly hurt Scotland for some time.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 5-0 White try, 7-0 Russell con, 7-3 Ramos pen, 10-3 Russell pen, 13-3 Russell pen, 13-8 Fickou try, 13-10 Ramos con, 16-10 Russell pen, 16-15 Bielle-Bierrey try, 16-17 Ramos con, 16-20 Ramos pen
Scotland: H Paterson; K Rowe, H Jones (C Redpath 77), S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe; F Russell (cc), B White; P Schoeman (A Hepburn 70), G Turner (E Ashman 69), Z Fagerson, G Gilchrist (S Skinner 74), S Cummings, M Fagerson (A Christie 40), R Darge (cc), J Dempsey
Not used: E Millar-Mills, G Horne, B Healy
France: T Ramos; D Penaud, G Fickou, J Danty (Y Moefana 63), L Bielle-Bierrey; M Jalibert, M Lucu (N Le Garrec 50); C Baille (S Taofifenua 58), P Mauvaka (J Marchand 49), U Atonio (D Aldegheri 58), C Woki (P Tuilagi 49), P Gabrillagues, F Cros (A Roumat 49), C Ollivon, G Alldritt (c, P Boudehent 50)
Referee: N Berry (AUS)
Attendance: 67,144
France just about edge Scotland in Edinburgh – as it happened
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