Dean Ryan will be back in front of the Sky cameras this week, his 10 weeks as a Test match forwards coach behind him but reasonably satisfied with Scotland’s third spot in the Six Nations and convinced that a young side have more to offer.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I started,” said the former Gloucester coach and Sky analyst whose duties with Scotland ended with Saturday night’s defeat. “But to do as well as we did in Paris was really rewarding. Make no mistake, that was real Test rugby.”
Real Test rugby and played in filthy conditions, it confirmed Scotland’s best championship in seven seasons while Tim Visser’s late try ensured that France, pre-tournament favourites, ended it with the wooden spoon and with both coaches unsure what the immediate future holds.
Ryan said that Scott Johnson, Scotland’s interim head coach, had not dropped hints about whether he wanted the job full-time – “he’s been pretty consistent about that all along” – while the future of Philippe Saint-Andre will depend on the French federation and a meeting with its president, Pierre Camou.
Saturday’s victory, which ended a Six Nations run of seven games without a win, will take some of the heat off Saint-Andre, although the prospect of a three-match tour to New Zealand in the summer is daunting. At Stade de France they came from six points down at half-time to win the game with tries from Wesley Fofana and Maxime Medard, which owed a lot to a spell of poor Scottish defending.
“The game was like our tournament: complicated,” said Saint-Andre. “This team is young, it has a soul and fights. But it lacks control. “The objective is to be ready for the 2015 World Cup and I think we will learn enormously from this Six Nations,” he added while Johnson was saying something similar about Scotland’s tournament.
“From a progress point of view I look at some things and say, ‘Gee that is fantastic’ and then the next day I am disappointed,” said the Australian. Guardian Service
FRANCE: Y Huget; V Clerc, M Bastareaud (G Fickou, 74), W Fofana, M Medard; F Michalak (F Trinh-Duc, 70), M Parra (M Machenaud, h-t); T Domingo (V Debaty, 54), B Kayser (G Guirado, 54), N Mas (L Ducalcon, 64), S Vahaamahina (C Samson, 70), Y Maestri, A Claassen (Y Nyanga, 67), T Dusautoir, L Picamoles.
SCOTLAND: S Hogg; S Maitland (M Evans, 30), S Lamont , M Scott, T Visser; D Weir (R Jackson, 67), G Laidlaw (H Pyrgos, 74); R Grant (M Low, 63), R Ford (D Hall, 74), E Murray (G Cross, 64), G Gilchrist (A Kellock, 54), J Hamilton, A Strokosch, K Brown, J Beattie (R Wilson, 70).
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
