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Scotland leave France grand slammed after prop's haymaker

By Online Editors
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Scotland brought France’s Grand Slam quest to a shuddering halt as Sean Maitland’s try double sealed a 28-17 win at BT Murrayfield.

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Fabien Galthie’s side touched down in Edinburgh looking to take another step towards their first Guinness Six Nations clean sweep in a decade.

They even found themselves ahead midway through the opening half from Damian Penaud’s try.

But a defence remodelled in Shaun Edwards’ stingy image was left terribly exposed when Mohamed Haouas got himself sent off for an act of sheer stupidity as he aimed a punch at Jamie Ritchie.

Scotland have struggled to make the most of their attacking opportunities this campaign but, with just 14 men to contend with, they finally found their verve. Maitland crossed either side of half-time before Stuart McInally sealed a precious victory.

France had previously toppled England, Italy and Wales but looked out of sorts in the Scottish capital from the off.

The foundations of Les Bleus’ success so far had been the twin talents of youngsters Romain Ntamack and Antoine Dupont.

But Ntamack’s involvement was limited to 11 rather shambolic minutes. First he skewed wide with a simple penalty, then came a knock-on from a high ball before he finally copped a bang to the head from Sam Johnson which forced him to be replaced.

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The visitors were already a man down by this point after flanker Paul Willemse was sent to the bin for dropping Grant Gilchrist on his head.

Kiwi referee Paul Williams decided the tip tackle was clumsy rather than reckless and opted to keep his red in his pocket – but not for long.

The early signs were good for the Scots, with a couple of big shunts from the pack teeing up Adam Hastings to slot over a penalty on 11 minutes. He added another seven minutes later as his forwards continued to pilfer and frustrate at the breakdown.

However, while Ntamack’s departure was a blow to France, they had another exciting young pivot to call on in the shape of Matthieu Jalibert and it was his combination with Arthur Vincent that saw the visitors grab the lead against the run of play.

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Scotland were cut apart down the left and the broken field was manna from heaven for Dupont, with his kick to the opposite flank drawing Blair Kinghorn into no-man’s land as Penaud scored on 33 minutes.

France felt the tide had turned in their favour – but then came Haouas’ moment of madness.

An off-the-ball squabble of pushes and shoves suddenly exploded into a furious row when the prop threw a punch at Ritchie’s chin. Williams took his time reviewing the images on the big screen but was left with no choice but to flash red when the cameras caught Haouas’ haymaker in HD quality.

Once the commotion was cleared, Hastings nudged Scotland back ahead with a penalty.

And it took Townsend’s team just four minutes to make use of the extra room as Maitland struck on the stroke of half-time.

Hastings punctured Les Bleus’ line with a daring break and Scotland did not hang about to let the visitors regroup as Stuart Hogg and Johnson snapped the ball out to the Saracens wing to score in the corner.

That put Scotland seven up at the break – and the lead was doubled just five minutes into the second period as Maitland grabbed another.

A kicking duel between the teams was going nowhere until Hogg sensed his moment to surge forward. Chris Harris took the drive on before Ali Price scampered to within five yards of the whitewash.

Again Scotland were quick to spot the space on the wing as Maitland stretched to dot down a try, converted by Hastings.

A Jalibert penalty trimmed the deficit by three but Scotland stuck another seven onto their tally on 65 minutes as Bernard Le Roux failed to gather a line-out. The big lock watched forlornly as McInally raced onto the loose ball and across the line for Scotland’s third try, again converted by Hastings.

The French did have one last cheer five minutes from the end when skipper Charles Ollivon crossed over after a swift counter-attack but it was the Scots making all the noise at full-time.

Press Association

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J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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