France 19-16 Scotland
Scrappy Scotland were denied a snatch-and-grab win in Paris after France stormed back to claim a 19-16 win in both side’s final match before the World Cup. Vern Cotter’s side were erratic at the vital moments for most of the opening hour but a moment of class from skipper Greig Laidlaw set up Tommy Seymour to score. However, the Dark Blues could not claim their first win at the Stade France since 1999 and Philippe Saint-Andre’s team finally breached the solid Scots defence with Noa Nakaitaci’s late touchdown.
The Scots started 2015 with six straight defeats, but after finally injecting some much-needed momentum into their tournament preparations with back-to-back wins over Italy, they were keen to keep the feel-good factor rolling against Les Bleus.
However, a head knock to prop Al Dickinson forced the visitors into an early rethink as Gordon Reid was thrown on after just six minutes.
Skipper Laidlaw put the first points on the board soon after as he nailed a 45-metre penalty, but a succession of handling errors was not what Cotter wanted to see with the Japan match just three weeks off.
A bulldozing run from Mathieu Bastareaud then set up Frederic Michalak to tie things up with a penalty.
The Scots were back in front swiftly though as Laidlaw did well to ignore a hooter blaring out from the crowd and knock over another solid kick.
Ross Ford’s lineouts had been erratic but the scrum was working well for Cotter’s side. However, the French centre pairing of Wesley Fofana and Bastareaud were proving to be a right handful with their surging carries.
It took fair means and foul to keep them at bay and Michalak ensured France were not hard done by as the Toulon outhalf slotted over his second kick.
It looked as though the muscle-bound pair had cut Scotland open again five minutes before the break but referee Wayne Barnes spotted Bastareaud’s forward pass before Fofana dotted down in the corner. To Cotter’s relief, Fofana limped off soon after.
Another Laidlaw penalty after French skipper Pascal Pape was penalised at the breakdown gave the Scots the half-time lead.
But the away side could not keep their discipline as the second half got under way and Michalak once again tied things up with another penalty. It could have got worse for Scotland had Sean Maitland’s try-stopping tackle on Yoann Huget not put the galloping wing into touch, after Matt Scott lost possession.
That let-off was followed by another swing in momentum as the Scots charged forward — but Finn Russell and Mark Bennett failed to finish off a daring break as once again the visitors failed to make the simplest of exchange stick. But Scottish enthusiasm was dented as the hosts took the lead for the first time when long-range specialist Scott Spedding squeezed a penalty over from inside his own half.
However, Laidlaw then came up with a stunning sucker punch as the Scots stormed back in front after 62 minutes. Spotting a gaping hole on the left-hand side of the Les Bleus defence, the scrum-half fired a perfect kick over the top and watched with joy as Seymour beat Spedding to the ball after using his soccer skills to good effect as he dribbled round the full-back’s tackle, leaving him to jog in for the score. Laidlaw added the extras.
However, the French were in no mood to lie down and poured forward. The pressure was too much for David Denton, who left Scotland a man down for the final 10 minutes when he was sin-binned for a cynical foul on Bastareaud. And with the extra man, Saint-Andre’s men could not be stopped as Nakaitaci combined passes with Remi Tales before storming over for the winner, converted by substitute Morgan Parra.
