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Error strewn Scotland performance sees winning streak ended by France at Murrayfield

By PA
Scotland lose their winning streak /PA

Scotland came up short in their quest for a sixth successive win as France claimed a 22-15 Autumn Nations Cup win at Murrayfield.

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Gregor Townsend’s men were looking to match a feat achieved only twice in the Dark Blues’ modern rugby history, the last by David Sole’s 1990 Grand Slam winners.

But beating France for the second time this year proved to be a game too far as Fabien Galthie’s men claimed a vital victory in Edinburgh thanks to Virimi Vakatawa’s try and 17 points from the boot of Thomas Ramos.

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The first half was a battle of the kickers, with Duncan Weir ensuring Scotland went in level at 12-12 after successfully knocking over his four attempts.

But the stand-off could only add three more points after the break to leave the Scots all but out of the reckoning for the competition’s first-place play-off in a fortnight.

Scotland will be idle next week after seeing next week’s clash with Covid-hit Fiji axed – but France can book their place in the final with victory over Italy in Paris.

It was evident early that keeping referee Wayne Barnes on side would be key for both teams – but neither had much joy on that front.

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It was Scotland who found themselves in the naughty books in the opening 10 minutes, with Chris Harris pinged for not rolling away and Ramos slotted the opening penalty.

Blair Kinghorn’s needless body check on Antoine Dupont cost the Scots decent territory but the big wing redeemed himself shortly afterwards when he scrambled back across his own line to prevent Vakatawa touching down from Gael Fickou’s clever grubber kick.

However, Ramos did kick over again as Les Bleus were forced to settle for three points.

Scotland v France - Autumn Nations Cup - BT Murrayfield Stadium

Scotland identified Vincent Rattez as the weak spot in the visitors’ defence, targeting him with a series of high balls. The ploy paid off as the wing found himself pounced upon by three white jerseys.

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Scotland’s trusty maul attack did not do much to dent the French rearguard but Weir did the necessary with his first penalty to halve the deficit.

France were now the team on the wrong side of Barnes, with Gregory Alldritt penalised for stopping Scotland getting clean ball as he flopped on a ruck. Weir split the posts again to level the scores.

France then appeared to have let a good attacking opportunity slip when Matthieu Jalibert threw a loose pass but Ramos had other ideas, slicing his way through the Scottish line with a lacerating run that cleared the space for Jalibert to nail a surprise drop-goal.

With the clash effectively a semi-final to decide who will play for the trophy in a fortnight, both teams were taking points whenever they were on offer.

Weir brought the hosts level again after another French tackler found themselves unable to roll out of Ali Price’s way – only for Matt Fagerson to immediately hand Ramos the chance to boot France back in front with another breakdown infringement.

Weir, however, did fire Scotland level at the break following Alldritt’s knock-on, but only after the Dark Blues defence – which has shipped just seven tries in the last seven games – held firm on the line to block a desperate charge from Galthie’s forwards.

Scotland v France - Autumn Nations Cup - BT Murrayfield Stadium

It took France just two minutes after the restart to produce the game’s first moment of real quality as Fickou’s off-load released Rattez surging through a huge gap before he handed over to Vakatawa to score the opening try.

Scotland responded with Weir’s fifth penalty but holding off the rampant French pack was becoming an ever harder task as Les Bleus grasped the set-piece upper hand.

Ramos continued his flawless evening with the boot to kick another penalty which moved his team seven in front.

France did offer some late hope with a number of sloppy mistakes but Townsend’s team were unable to capitalise. And they were left to sample the bitter taste of defeat for the first time since February when Stuart Hogg’s failure to find the corner with a stoppage-time penalty sealed France’s win.

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J
JW 7 minutes ago
Crusaders outlast fast starting Blues to reach another Super Rugby final

Yeah nar, but that’s kinda the thing, I don’t think the old approach was working either!


You might have it right though, leading up, in all rugby/competitions mean, to the last WC it did feel like there had been better discipline/less than the normal amount of cards. Well, at least a certain demographic of teams improved at least, but not so much NZ ones is my point.


I bet you also think going harsher would be the best way to go reducing head contact and the frequency of concussions?


I would hate to have your theory tested as it requires subjective thinking from the officials but..

AI Overview

In Super Rugby Pacific, a red card means the player is sent off for the rest of the match, but with a 20-minute red card, the team can replace the player after 20 minutes of playing with 14 men. If the foul play is deemed deliberate and with a high degree of danger, a full red card is issued, and the player cannot be replaced. A second yellow card also results in a 20-minute red card with a replacement allowed. 

is there to stop that from happening. The whole subjective thing is why we have 20min cards, and I worry that the same leniency that stopped them from red carding a player who ran 30 meters and still didn’t get his head low enough would stop them straight redn them too.


Back to the real topic though, right after that WC we saw those same angles getting red carded all over the show. So do some players actually have control over their actions enough to avoid head collisions (and didn’t gaf after the WC?), or was it pure luck or an imaginary period of good discipline?


So without a crystal ball to know the truth of it I think you’ll find it an immeasurably better product with 20m red cards, there just does not appear to be any appropriate amount of discipline added to the back end, the suspensions (likely controlled by WR), yet.

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