France bring Scotland back down to earth
France inflicted more Paris misery on Scotland with a pulsating 22-16 Six Nations victory despite yet another try from the in-form Stuart Hogg in his 50th international.
Scotland had high hopes of ending an 18-year wait for a win in the French capital on Sunday after beating Ireland on the opening weekend of the tournament, but they were brought back down to earth at Stade de France.
France could consider themselves unfortunate to suffer defeat against England at Twickenham last weekend, but Camille Lopez scored 17 points with the boot as Guy Noves’ powerful side got up and running with a first win.
Hogg celebrated becoming the youngest Scot to win a half-century of caps at the age of 24 by scoring in his fourth successive Six Nations match in the first half and there was a first Test try for Tim Swinson just after the break.
Les Bleus controlled much of a compelling game, though, with Gael Fickou scoring their only try in the second half and fly-half Lopez converting two of his five penalties in the last 10 minutes to seal the victory.
Remi Lamerat also had a try somewhat controversially ruled out, but Scotland were unable to claim their first win in Paris since 1999 and also lost captain Greig Laidlaw, John Barclay, John Hardie and Fraser Brown to injury as they came away with a losing bonus point.
Les Bleus started with great energy and intensity with the backing of a vociferous crowd and Lopez put them in front from the tee, but they were soon behind when Hogg had another moment to savour.
The fleet-footed full-back took an offload from Huw Jones and Baptiste Serin was unable to prevent him from going over in the corner following a sustained spell of pressure 16 minutes in.
Laidlaw’s conversion attempt struck the crossbar and Les Bleus were back in front courtesy of a second Lopez penalty.
Injured captain Laidlaw was replaced by Ali Price, whose first contribution was to shove Lopez when he refused to release the ball and the new scrum-half breathed a sigh of relief as the France number 10 missed from the tee after referee Jaco Peyper reversed the penalty.
France were getting plenty of quick ball and it came as no surprise when Fickou burst through wide on the right to dot down and Lopez added the extras, but two Finn Russell penalties reduced the deficit to two points at the break.
Scotland lost stand-in skipper Barclay to a head injury and his replacement Hardie also limped off just after the break, but Swinson made the most of his chance by surging under the posts with his first touch after Tommy Seymour benefited from a lucky bounce and fed the rampaging lock.
Russell inexplicably scuffed his conversion under the posts and France were level at 16-16 when Lopez made no mistake with another three-pointer.
Scott Spedding and Hogg were off target with long-range penalties before the TMO ruled that Lamerat lost control of the ball and knocked on when he attempted to touch down for a second France try 12 minutes from time.
But Lopez had the final say, slotting over two penalties to give France a deserved win.
Key Opta stats:
– France remain undefeated in nine home fixtures against Scotland in the Six Nations, though only two of their last seven such wins have come by double digits.
– France’s last four home wins in the Six Nations have all come by a margin of seven points or fewer.
– Scotland have still never won their opening two games of a Six Nations campaign; they last achieved the feat in the Five Nations in 1996 when they opened with victory against Ireland before beating France.
– France won 9/9 scrums in the game, the fifth game in a row they have won 100 per cent of their scrums [32/32 in those matches].
Comments on RugbyPass
This sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
12 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
12 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
12 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
12 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
12 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
12 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to comments