Scotland - 0 France - 31 France approach Saturday night's Six Nations finale in Paris as clear favourites after their fourth win out of four and their second clean sheet of the tournament. However if England can deny them victory and the Grand Slam this championship will go down to points difference with the big two and, probably, Ireland in a tie at the top of the table.
Assuming the men in green are unable to beat Scotland by the massive margin necessary to enter the equation - and even given Scotland's pitiful showing here that looks unlikely - England need to beat France by eight points to win a title which will offer little compensation for defeat against Ireland but will keep pride intact. A seven-point margin of victory for les rosbifs will mean the title comes down to tries scored by the two sides.
Yesterday the France trainer Bernard Laporte at last permitted himself to talk about les Anglais. "They are the world champions, they are from the same hemisphere, we want to beat them. In the second half of the game against Wales they simply decided to get a grip on the ball and the game and did it. They are not world champions for nothing, but Saturday is another day and we will be hungry."
Perhaps it relates to their bitter experience of the World Cup, but France, somehow, have become like the England of old; a team for whom winning ugly is the norm. Their victory yesterday was a carbon copy of the one against Italy, in that it came by a substantial margin with the outcome never in doubt but questions still to be asked about handling and vision.
The wooden spoon beckons the Scots, but they do still have something to offer in terms of spectacle. Unfortunately it all comes before the referee signals the kick-off - and the biggest pre-match firework display, the loudest music and two jet fighters cannot make up for the paucity of what follows with the oval ball.
Murrayfield was silenced after seven minutes by France's two star performers, with Olivier Magne running on to Yannick Jauzion's pass 30 metres out on the left wing and scorching past Chris Paterson for the 13th try of his international career.
The floodgates never quite opened, thanks to a series of handling errors, and only two penalties from the scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili sent France in 11 points clear at the break.
So lacking in skill and penetration were Scotland, and so impermeable was the blue defence, that even that lead looked decisive, in spite of the loss of France's main play-maker Frederic Michalak with a neck injury. It is not expected to rule him out of next weekend's encounter.
Yachvili's delivery was cumbersome but his boot kept the scoreboard ticking until the outcome was settled with the arrival of the grizzled prop Jean-Jacques Crenca for Sylvain Marconnet. No sooner had Crenca taken the pitch with 13 minutes remaining than France rolled back a Scotland scrum in their 22, Yachvili snaffled the ball, and Jauzion burst past Tom Philip.
The centre's second try, two minutes from time, was merely the cherry on a rather thin cake and the French were muted afterwards. "Since the start of the tournament we've alternated good things and not so good, but the basics - scrum, winning the ball, retaining the ball, defence and willingness to play - have always been good," said Laporte.
His deputy Jo Maso believes France's main weakness at present is their inability to score at key moments. "We vary our game well, but I hope against England we can ground the ball every time we get behind their defence line, because we won't get many opportunities."
SCOTLAND: D Lee (D Parks, 58); S Danielli, T Philip, A Henderson, S Webster (Edinburgh); C Paterson (capt,), C Cusiter (M Blair, h-t); A Jacobsen (Kerr, 40; Jacobsen, 80), G Bulloch (R Russell, 68), B Douglas; S Murray (Edinburgh), S Grimes (N Hines, 52); J White, C Mather (A Hogg, h-t), S Taylor.
FRANCE: N Brusque; P Elhorga, Y Jauzion, D Traille, C Dominici; F Michalak (J Peyrelongue, h-t), D Yachvili; S Marconnet (Crenca, 67), W Servat (Y Bru, 52), P De Villiers; F Pelous (capt), P Pape (D Auradou, 77); S Betsen, O Magne, T Lievremont (J Bonnaire, 48).
Referee: S Young (Australia.).
Guardian Service
