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Opening try: Maxime Medard
Defending Six Nations champions France sent out a statement to their championship rivals on Saturday with an impressive 34-21 win over Scotland in Paris.
Unlike the nightmare against Australia the last time les Bleus were at the Stade de France, Marc Lièvremont's side were all singing from the same hymn sheet as they scored four eye-catching tries.
Out-muscled up front, outpaced out wide, Scotland looked down and out with an hour left on the clock. Credit to them however for scoring three tries of their own by the final whistle, with a late consolation touch down lending the scoreline an air of respectability.
Scotland's scrum has been a strength in recent times but the French scrum is quite possibly the best there is right now and they showed the world as much. It's not often that Euan Murray is put under pressure at scrum time but the Scottish tighthead, like the rest of the visiting front row, was going either backwards or down all evening from the moment the "engage" call came from referee Wayne Barnes.
But for a change, the French backs were also firing and the hosts ensured that the game was played at a frenetic pace.
The French off-loading in the tackle and support running on the counter attack had their visitors scampering back with high frequency and only a handful of last-gasp tackles prevented the score-line from running away in the first half.
By full-time, Maxime Médard, Imanol Harinordoquy and Damien Traille had all touched down, all from movements started in broken play.
France were cruising to such an extent that Lièvremont had no fear of disrupting his team by sending most of his bench on well before the last quarter.
France were on the scoreboard with the almost their first touch of the ball. From a turnover in the tackle Thierry Dusautoir fed wing-turned-centre Aurélien Rougerie who dropped the ball onto his left boot. Médard turned on the gas on the outside and dotted down for the opening try after just three minutes.
A François Trinh-Duc drop goal saw the French take a ten-point lead after as many minutes.
Scotland did well to hang in there and Alastair Kellock's first Test try at the end of the first quarter kept his side in contention. After some solid build-up play the skipper found a gap on the fringe of a ruck to sneak over.
But the visitors failed to threaten for the rest of the first period. Referee Barnes was left with no choice but to award France with a penalty try on the half-hour mark after the visitors' pack was murdered in series of 5metre scrums.
Scotland would have been relieved to head to the changing rooms at 17-7.
Trinh-Duc linked up with Harinordoquy - via a pass between the fly-half's legs - to get the scoreboard ticking in the second period with the big loose forward backing himself for pace to finish under the sticks.
Again the reply came from Scotland as Kelly Brown profited from some sloppy tackling to charge over and reduce the gap to ten points.
The changes had taken some of the rhythm out of the French attack but they were still lethal from broken play and a silky string of interpassing saw Traille end under the posts.
With the result sewn up, Lamont grabbed a try in the dying minutes as the French defence went missing.
Ironically the game ended - like it did against the Wallabies - with a few boos coming the crowd who were denied another try when France opted for an easy penalty rather than going for the whitewash.
Man of the match: A handful of candidates here. Richie Gray had a strong game for Scotland while Maxime Médard and François Trinh-Duc looked good for the hosts. But we'll go for prop Thomas Domingo who, along with William Servat and Nicolas Mas, was awesome at scrum time.
Moment of the match: Went it's going right for les Bleus, it seems anything is possible. François Trinh-Duc's between the legs pass to set up Harinordoquy's try was a classic!
Villain of the match: Nothing to report here. A wonderful night of rugby.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Médard, Penalty try, Harinordoquy, Traille
Cons: Parra 2, Yachvili 2
Pens: Yachvili
Drop: Trinh-Duc
For Scotland:
Tries: Kellock, Brown, Lamont
Cons: Parks 2, Jackson
France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Vincent Clerc, 22 Clément Poitrenaud.
Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell , 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown,7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock (c),4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray,2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Sean Lamont.
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Comments
JP07 says...
Scot RSA. Here Here. Its just nice to have something to cheer as a Scot. I thought Ansbro was out of his dpeth in the Autoumn but he was up against bulldozer centres, he really showed an eye for a run on Saturday. De Luca is out of his depth, would rather Lamont in the absence of Morrison. Maybe even Jackson to give him some game time but as a promising 10 we need to keep him as a 10. Parks wont get us anywhere after the world cup, Jackson needs to be implemented in the team ready to take the reigns next season
Posted 15:36 07th February 2011
AllyB says...
Why do Scotland still play Dan Parks? His game plan is just pass the ball and kick... Isn't that what a scrum half does? The SRU needs to find and play other 10s and keep them, let Parks go and move on. Same with De Luca.
Posted 03:10 07th February 2011
JeanLucJoinel says...
Half decent from France. Many positives amidst far too many handling errors and some spectacularly sloppy defence. Much of the worst stuff came when lievremont started his usual idiotic medalling at 55 mins. But given the summer and autumn, and the players playing out of position this was a good result for France against a very decent Scottish side who will beat Ireland Wales and Italy and at the very
least trouble England.
Posted 20:34 06th February 2011
choky says...
that was a good game but i was not impressed at all by the french - defence on the scots try was appaling - parra is very slow - traille did ot convince me either - anyway believe that france can win in irland ( wont be easy though) but dont see them at all in twickenham- as for the world cup lets forget it the gap is too wiide with southenr hemisphere - and lievremont coaching is disastrous as always
Posted 08:31 06th February 2011
KiwiRooster says...
Without the "big lads" (Jauzion, Traille) at centre, the back line was firing remarkably well, even though I am still not completely convinced by the halfbacks combination of Parra Trinh-Duc. I would really like to see the Montpellier pair of Tomas Trinh-Duc reunited. Tomas is not as good a goalkicker as Parra (although I do believe he is doing well for his club) but he is so much better at attacking the line, it would give the back line even more momentum. His speed will be much needed.
Traille at fullback did not convince me at all, sure he finished a try brilliantly orchestrated by Medard. With Poitrenaud (excellent) at centre and Medard (excellent) on the wing I would rather like to see Palisson at fullback. He never played there for France (always on the wing) and that's a shame because that is where he is good at. Besides, Palisson like Medard is a complete player: good defense, good vision, good kicking.Traille is an outside centre by trade who can also play on the inside, but that's all. He will never be a fullback or a fly half, not in a million years. His so called polyvalence has been constantly exposed at international level.
Given Mermoz likely injury, my guess is that Lievremont will either bring Traille at # 12 or Poitrenaud and leave Rougerie at # 13 or bring Marty. It is not desperate even though Mermoz is a big loss. Because I think Poitrenaud is better on the outside (# 13) I would have like to see Estebanez selected by Lievremont as an inside. Don't listen to what some supporters might say in France but Estebanez (an ex rugby league player) is one of the best inside centre in the French championship. He ticks all the boxes at inside centre: solid defense, powerful runs, great off-loads, good vision and strategic kicking. He is a natural 2nd 5/8.His short spell against Fiji showed what he can do and I expect him to move to a bigger club.
Posted 00:33 06th February 2011
mlbp says...
Great defensive blunders by the French, totally unexpected of them (or maybe that's what they truly are like). The three tries by the Scots came from tackling errors. France has the bulk in the players to be able to defend well. Maybe it's a question of mental disposition and fitness, as Kiwirooster says.
Massive scrumming. I am happy to see a team honouring this classical aspect of the game. France clearly shows that a team can have a good scrum and mobile forwards at the same time (Australia and others only want dynamic big men who pay no attention to packing down).
Lots of work for the centres to improve their performance. Unfortunate injury for Mermoz. Traille much better at centre than at fullback. Rougerie excelled in the first play of the match (great grubber for Medard). The rest of the match he looked a bit quiet. I would like him to develop into a fine outside centre as Umaga did (I believe he went from winger to centre as Rougerie is trying to do), but he may not have the talent or the class for that. I imagine Lièvremont changing his centres once again.
Bonnaire is an underrated player. He does everything in a quiet way but his workrate is enormous.
Richie Gray is called to be one of the greats (I agree with you, 5Lock4ward, he'll be a British and Irish Lion one day, and his partnership with Courtney Lawes could be legendarious).
Joe Ansbro looked really dangerous. A find in the backline for the Scots.
Didn't Nathan Hines look a bit out of place in such a fast-paced much?
Aren't you tired of the mindless changes in the second halves of the matches (as Jonathan Davies said)? Isn't it a bit stupid to rob the players and the audience of a great show just because all the players on the bench deserve to have a go? The All Blacks don't engage in these stupidities. Lièvremont loves doing that, though. What for?
Posted 00:15 06th February 2011
KiwiRooster says...
That penalty try reminds of the World Cup 1995 when the French murdered the Springboks not less than four times on their line. Every single time the Springboks collapsed the scrum. The Welsh referee never gave France a penalty try (that son of a...). This was the biggest ever disappointment and easily the most shameful (from an ethic point of view) World Cup of all. Time has changed, there is no doubt rugby has become a little bit more professional than it used to be. That French pack is class act.
Posted 00:03 06th February 2011
BoDiddly says...
France have little to fear from Ireland or England who were both ordinarily poor this weekend despite scraping wins. The French could win this tournament by a country mile now at a canter if they want to, the rest are that bad. NH rugby? In NZ, we gather around the tv when the six nations kicks off, and point and laugh.
Posted 23:03 05th February 2011
Carpelone says...
France by 15 next week. The only chance for Ireland is that the French fall asleep during the two anthem protocol.
Posted 21:22 05th February 2011
Rolf says...
A great, fast, never-ending match of Rugby with France the desreved winner.
Still i was very, evry impressesd by Scotlands tiredless running approach and good defense. They might win some, especially at Murrayfield. Beware Ireland.
This is going to be avery exciting 3Nats. cool.
Posted 20:24 05th February 2011
ericmarseille says...
The french lineout was outplayed and Guirado the sub hooker is a terrible thrower.
Several kicks were missed
Huget is useless
Rougerie looked out of sync with his teammates
The kick start contests were all won by the scots
The french scrum was outsmarted by the scottish one in 2nd half
And esp. despite all the good will and real talent displayed France is still uncapable to score firsthand ; THIS is really worrying
Congrats to the Scots, always valiant opponents
Posted 20:20 05th February 2011
scot_rsa says...
This article is a bit tough on Scotland. Sure the scrum struggled but there is a massive improvement in spirit and cutting edge. The French were great but profited from sloppy turnovers, Scotland kept their composure well to build three excellent tries. As a long-suffering fan I feel I've got my team back and can't wait to take my seat at Murrayfield next weekend. Scotland is a work in progress with some excellent players still to return, please SRU - don't let this excellent coaching set-up get drawn away. Oh, and Richie Gray - superb!
Posted 20:11 05th February 2011
Sinolated says...
The French were frighteningly excellent going forward! Still, their final touch... that final pass eluded them at times particularly in the first half. Scotland also managed a number of turnovers which is uncharacteristic from France to allow.
Might need to work on their defence as well and they missed more tackles than Scotland.
But all in all; a cracking game! Scotland played very very well so credit to them too and France were an absolute beauty to watch!
Looking forward to Ireland v France. That one should be interesting especially on the back of Ireland's embarrassing outing in Rome earlier today.
Posted 20:08 05th February 2011
pogmahon says...
Well done France thought they looked impressive in the scrand and in attack. Scotland will definitely cause other teams problems.
Posted 19:45 05th February 2011
isabelle713 says...
Allez! Trinh-Duc's pass to Harinordoquy was sublime! Credit to Scotland I never thought they would score 3 tries against France or anyone to be honest. A great game and this championship feels like it will be a great one this year looking forward to the all the upcoming fixtures.
Posted 19:43 05th February 2011
stuart10 says...
Workman like performance from France. Far from perfect though. Tough trips ahead to Dublin and London. Fabien Galthie once was quoted as saying "French rugby is like the weather, sometimes it is sunny, sometimes it rains " Still quite appropriate !
Posted 19:17 05th February 2011