Rugby - Six Nations France 34 Scotland 21:An outrageous pass through his legs by French outhalf Francois Trinh-Duc set up the key try for the defending Six Nations champions in a 34-21 win over Scotland in Paris today.
Last year's Grand Slam winners touched down early through Maxime Medard and were always ahead despite tries from Alastair Kellock, Kelly Brown and Sean Lamont for the Scots.
The piece de resistance for France came when Trinh-Duc picked out Imanol Harinordoquy with a stunning bit of skill to allow the number eight to run in unchallenged.
France, who also managed a penalty try and a try from Damien Traille, will visit Ireland next Sunday in reasonably confident mood after they were thrashed by Australia in November.
Scotland have a terrible record against France, with their last win coming in 2006, but the home side's confidence coming into the match was also brittle following the 59-16 mauling by Australia in their last match in Paris.
However, the home side made a flying start in the third minute with winger Medard scoring the first try thanks to Aurelien Rougerie's superb grubber kick after Scotland had lost the ball.
Morgan Parra completed a confident conversion and the scrumhalf then set up Trinh-Duc for a drop goal before Scotland fought their way back into the game.
Scotland, wearing their traditional dark blue while the hosts wore white, powered towards the line and a neat dummy from Kellock allowed him to wriggle over the line.
Outhalf Dan Parks had made a shaky start but he popped over the conversion to re-energise the Scottish supporters.
Marc Lievremont's team always looked the more dangerous with several drives of expansive rugby which thrilled the packed Stade de France.
A series of scrums held up near the line led to France getting a penalty try and Parra kicked the extra points again to send his side into the break 17-7 in front.
Early in the second half, Parra missed the posts in a game refreshingly free of penalty kicks before Harinordoquy's try. The superb score and conversion prompted a rousing rendition of the Marseillaise from the crowd but they were soon silenced when
Scotland number eight Brown muscled his way over the line.
Any French jitters were calmed when another flowing move sent Traille crashing over with the Scottish defence nowhere and Lamont's late try made no difference to the result.
Scorers:
France:
Tries:Maxime Medard, penalty try, Imanol Harinordoquy, Damien Traille
Conversions:Morgan Parra (2), Dimitri Yachvili (2)
Penalty:Dimitri Yachvili; Drop goal: Francois Trinh-Duc
Scotland:
Tries:Alastair Kellock, Kelly Brown, Sean Lamont
Conversions:Dan Parks (2), Ruaridh Jackson.
Teams:
France:15-Damien Traille, 14-Yoann Huget, 13-Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz (22-Clement Poitrenaud 44), 11-Maxime Medard (21-Vincent Clerc 73), 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra (20-Dmitri Yachvili 52), 8-Imanol Harinordoquy (19-Sebastien Chabal 55), 7-Julien Bonnaire, 6-Thierry Dusautoir, 5-Lionel Nallet (18-Jerome Thion 62), 4-Julien Pierre, 3-Nicolas Mas (17-Luc Ducalcon 52), 2-Willian Servat (16-Guilhem Guirado 57), 1-Thomas Domingo (3-Nicolas Mas 69).
Scotland:15-Hugo Southwell, 14-Nikki Walker, 13-Joe Ansbro, 12-Nick De Luca (22-Seam Lamont 55), 11-Maxime Medard, 10-Dan Parks (21-Ruaridh Jackson 69), 9-Rory Lawson (20-Mike Blair 40), Kelly Brown, 7-John Barclay (19-Ross Rennie 61), 6-Nathan Hines (18-Richie Vernon 56), 5-Alastair Kellock, 4-Richie Gray, 3-Euan Murray (17-Moray Low 70), 2-Ross Ford (16 Dougie Hall 73), 1-Allan Jacobsen.
Referee:Wayne Barnes (England)
