Scotland like England the day before ripped up the script in their match against France at Murrayfield. France won the day 17-23 but a couple of key injuries could have been the difference between the sides as Scotland held the lead and played the better rugby for large parts of the game. Oh how frustrating to be the coach, players and supporters, they have rediscovered the try line and now need to find the collective to win a game though they must go to Ireland on the 10 March (Ireland play France next week so it could be a good time to catch them tired at home) and then Italy on the 17 March when if they put in another good showing they should be favourites if they can hold out in the scrum.
Scotland opened the scoring through their new fullback Stuart Hogg, but Wesley Fofana finished a French counter with a try. Half time and the score was locked at 10-10. The second period and it was Scotland again who were building the phases and playing the rugby. They got just reward as winger Lee Jones scored his first international try early on after the restart, things were looking good for a home win. Trouble is you cannot bottle up the French and the genie Maxime Medard ended yet another French counter by scoring a try midway through the second half. Lionel Beauxis then took the game away from Scotland with a drop-goal. Giving us the final score of:
Scotland 17-23 France
Scorers
SCOTLAND
Tries: Hogg, Jones
Cons: Laidlaw, Weir
Pen: Laidlaw
FRANCE
Tries: Fofana, Medard
Cons: Parra 2
Pens: Parra 2
Drop-goal: Beauxis
Teams
Scotland: 15-Stuart Hogg, 14-Rory Lamont, 13-Sean Lamont, 12-Graeme Morrison, 11-Lee Jones, 10-Greig Laidlaw, 9-Mike Blair; 1-Allan Jacobsen, 2-Ross Ford (captain), 3-Geoff Cross, 4-Richie Gray, 5-Jim Hamilton, 6-John Barclay, 7-Ross Rennie, 8-David Denton.
Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson, 17-Ed Kalman, 18-Alastair Kellock, 19-Richie Vernon, 20-Chris Cusiter, 21-Duncan Weir, 22-Nick De Luca.
France: 15-Maxime Medard, 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-Aurelien Rougerie, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Julien Malzieu, 10-François Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra;1-Jean-Baptiste Poux, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 3-Nicolas Mas, 4-Pascal Pape, 5-Yoann Maestri, 6-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 7-Imanol Harinordoquy, 8-Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: 16-William Serva, 17-Vincent Debaty, 18-Lionel Nallet, 19-Julien Bonnaire, 20-Julien Dupuy, 21-Lionel Beauxis, 22-Maxime Mermoz.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges: Alain Rolland, Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)