Noves: France win was not a step back

Guy Noves was not impressed with France’s display in a tense win over Scotland but did not feel that his side took a step back in Paris.

Les Bleus started their Six Nations campaign with an agonising defeat against England at Twickenham last weekend after also suffering narrow home losses to Australia and New Zealand in November.

They got the job done at Stade de France on Sunday, with Camille Lopez booting 17 points and Gael Fickou scoring a second-half try to seal a 22-16 victory.

Noves saw room for improvement, but the France head coach was pleased to get up and running in the tournament at the expense of a Scotland side brimming with confidence after beating Ireland last Saturday.

“We had lost three matches against top teams playing great rugby and today we will be happy with the win,” Noves said.

“I’m also happy with the last 15 minutes, which is where we lost against England. We are frustrated with the game we played but for once we’re happy with the result.

“We were under pressure to win this game and that played a part, but I’m happy for the players because a week ago we were ahead of England with nine minutes left and lost because we lacked character.”

Noves also vowed to stick with an attractive brand of rugby rather than go back to a more reserved approach.

“We’ve been working hard for a year to play a style of rugby that suits our qualities so we are not going to change everything now,” he added.

“We made too many mistakes, that’s why our game looked poor today but I don’t think today was a step back.”