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Gregor Townsend hailed Scotland’s character and their improvement from the thrashing at the hands of Wales after they came from behind to beat France 32-26 in the Six Nations.
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Having been thumped 34-7 by Wales in the tournament opener, Scotland appeared on course for another defeat when France raced into a 10-0 lead inside 10 minutes.
Les Bleus led 20-14 at half-time at Murrayfield but Scotland fought back brilliantly in the second half, six second-half penalties from Greig Laidlaw turning the game in their favour.
Next up for Scotland is a pivotal clash with defending champions England in Edinburgh in two weeks’ time as they aim to win the trophy for the first time since 1999 – the last year of the tournament being the Five Nations.
Speaking to BBC Sport after the match, Townsend said: “[I’m] happier than last week that’s for sure. The effort it takes to win a Test match is huge and doing it from behind shows the character in the squad.
“We were a bit more direct in the second half and we got our reward. France were excellent at the breakdown, at times they did go off their feet and they got penalised.
Greig Laidlaw also surpassed 600 points for Scotland this afternoon pic.twitter.com/11M8eDd4Cu
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 11, 2018
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“Our forwards had such a massive game in the set piece and did so well, but they were still carrying.”
Townsend took off fly-half Finn Russell with 15 minutes left, replacing him with scrum-half Ali Price and moving Laidlaw to the number 10 spot, and the decision paid dividends.
“It was mentioned during the week and we ran a couple of plays this morning. It was really seeing how Greig was and Ali brings so much from the bench. Greig’s kicking was important so we kept him on,” Townsend added.
“We were much better this week. To get back into the game and to be much more accurate than last week was pleasing.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
GOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
1 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
145 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
1 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
145 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
145 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
145 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
145 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
145 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
145 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
145 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
145 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
145 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
145 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
145 Go to commentsHo hum.
145 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
145 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
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