It is one of the most evocative images of the Five Nations. Philippe Dintrans, the French hooker, slumped in the dressing-room and crying on the shoulder of his captain, Jean-Pierre Rives. France had just seen the 1984 Grand Slam snatched from their grasp by Scotland and Dintrans is inconsolable.
France's trips to Murrayfield often end in tears. In 20 years, the Scots have lost only once in Edinburgh in this fixture and a bedraggled cockerel, stung by the thistle, has been sent back south tae think again. Two years ago, the forgotten man of Scottish rugby, Michael Dods, scored all 19 points in an exhilarating and totally unexpected 19-14 victory. As ever in the Five Nations, omens and ghosts lurk everywhere. With a neat touch of symmetry, Jim Telfer, coach of that 1984 Grand Slam team, is back at the helm. Telfer had 10 days to prepare Scotland for their 17-16 win in Dublin a fortnight ago following the departure of the coach Richie Dixon.
It was a victory that restored confidence in a team knocked sideways by crushing defeats at the hands of Australia and South Africa before Christmas and a passionless defeat against Italy in Treviso last month. On Telfer's back-room staff are David Leslie and Roy Laidlaw, veterans of 1984. There was no vainglorious talk, though, in Dublin by Telfer and his players of repeating that win of two years ago, and a Scottish Grand Slam is surely out of the question. France come to Edinburgh as out and out favourites. The Grand Slam champions were in indomitable form against England with a bludgeoning pack and a rapier-sharp set of backs. Even without genuinely world-class players like Emil Ntamack and Abdelatif Benazzi, their depths of talents should allow them to field two or three sides who could beat Scotland.
Christophe Dominici and Philippe Bernat-Salles are wings who have seamlessly slotted into a side who look pretty bedraggled themselves when losing 52-10 to the Springboks last November. And any side who can leave a performer like Philippe Benetton on the bench - he is replaced in the back row by Marc Lievremont today - must be feared. Scotland's biggest worry, however, will be coping with the French scrum. Christian Califano and Franck Tournaire, the Toulouse props, gave the rosbifs a roasting two weeks ago. Califano is a particularly dangerous customer and to this end, Telfer has brought back Bath's Dave Hilton to shore up the Scottish scrum. But the man the Scots may miss the most today is injured Lions prop Tom Smith.
Scotland will almost certainly try to up the tempo of the game in the early stages in an attempt to rattle the French. Their surprise selection is the 24-year-old London Scottish full-back Derrick Lee, who replaced Rowen Shepherd in the latter stages of the Ireland game. The exciting attacker expects to get his hands on the ball a lot today. Telfer cleverly used his substitutes in Dublin, Hilton coming on to replace George Graham, who was struggling in the scrum, and Stuart Grimes making a big impression with some storming runs late in the game after he had replaced Damian Cronin. Expect Grimes and the New Zealand-born back Shaun Longstaff to have a run out today. Telfer says he regards the win over the French here in 1996 as the best performance Scotland have produced in the last two years. And if Scotland can also evoke the spirit of 1984 - not to mention 1990 - France could yet be banished to rugby's Room 101.
Scotland: D Lee (London Scottish); T Stanger (Hawick & Scottish Borders), A Tait (Newcastle Falcons), G Townsend (Northampton), K Logan (Wasps); C Chalmers (Melrose & Scottish Borders), G Armstrong (Newcastle Falcons, capt); D Hilton (Bath), G Bulloch (West of Scotland & Glasgow), M Stewart (Northampton); D Cronin (Wasps), D Weir (Newcastle Falcons); R Wainwright (Dundee High School FP & Caledonia), P Walton (Newcastle Falcons), S Holmes (London Scottish). Replacements: R Shepherd (Melrose & Caledonia), S Longstaff (Dundee High School FP & Caledonia), A Nicol (Bath), A Rox- burgh (Kelso & Scottish Borders), S Grimes (Watsonians & Caledonia), G Graham (Newcastle Falcons), G Ellis (Currie & Edinburgh).
France: J-L Sadourny (Colomiers); P Bernat- Salles (Pau), C Lamaison (Brive), S Glas (Bourguin), C Dominici (Stade Francais); T Castaignede (Castres), P Carbonneau (Brive); C Califano (Toulouse), R Ibanez (Dax, capt), F Tournaire (Toulouse), O Brouzet (Begles-Bordeaux), F Pelous (Toulouse), M Lievremont (Stade Francais), T Lievremont (Perpignan), O Magne (Brive). Replacements: X Garbajosa (Toulouse), D Aucagne (Pau), F Galthie (Colomiers), P Benetton (Agen), T Cleda (Pau), C Soulette (Beziers), M Dal Maso (Agen).
Referee: P O'Brien (New Zealand).
Touch judges: A Watson (South Africa), D McHugh (Ireland).
