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Key events
68 mins. The lineout is won by Gray and a signature spray it wide on first phase move takes the ball all the way to van der Merwe, but France are alive to the threat and get across to put the big man in touch.
66 mins. Scotland are back in the French 22 as they scrap to keep themselves in the game to a better degree. Huw Jones is hammered by Bielle-Biarrey in a way that took Jones through the horizontal and it’s a penalty against the young winger. That kind of defensive power is something new from him, though.
63 mins. The feeling permeates the match that this is now all over and it’s just a question of the degree of dominance in the French victory.
TRY! France 35 – 16 Scotland (Yoram Moefana)
62 mins. The big units rumble in midfield, pulverising the brave Scottish effort before the ball finds Bielle-Biarrey in midfield to step and offload to Fickou who feeds Moefana to score in the left corner.
Ramos misses his first kick of the evening.
59 mins. After the Scottish rally in the early part of the half, France are now starting to dominate proceedings. The latest attack ends with Lucu taking the option to pin the visitors back with a clever grubber to touch deep in Scotland territory, inviting them to play from deep while at least two scores down.
TRY! France 30 – 16 Scotland (Thomas Ramos)
57 mins. The ball is put in the corner and the driving maul is again set, sucks in the Scotland defence and the space created is all Ramos needs to sprint over unopposed when the ball finds him.
55 mins. France have gone back to the maul and it eats the Scottish defence up before moving the ball to the backs in the 22. The ball reaches Ramos on the right who is bundle into touch, but the ref calls that he was dragged over the line after the tackle was completed. Penalty to France.
53 mins. Ritchie wins a great turnover in his 22 but Russell ruins it by missing touch and finding only Bielle-Biarrey. The winger chases and gathers his own punt which allows France to move it right to Penaud who probes a kick behind that van der Merwe covers and passes to Russell to clear.
The action does not stop in Paris.
PENALTY! France 23 – 16 Scotland (Finn Russell)
51 mins. Russell takes some reward for the strong opening to the half.
50 mins. It’s not long before the visitors are again flying at Les Bleus defence, this time Russell arcing wide and finding Graham with an offload. The attack continues and a few phases later France are desperate and offside. Ben White is the conductor the breathless rhythm and having a great game.
48 mins. Undeterred, Scotland are back on the ball and finding Kinghorn joining the line. He puts a kick towards the corner but it’s out on the full.
To paraphrase Blazin’ Saddles, “never mind that sh**, here comes the French bench”
46 mins. The recovery from that gut punch is immediate from Scotland as they put themselves back on the attack with the same vim as before. As it gathers some momentum Guillard gets amongst the breakdown to frustrate the progress and the ball spills forward.
TRY! France 23 – 13 Scotland (Louis Bielle-Biarrey)
43 mins. The ball comes loose as a Russell offload goes to ground out wide. Ntamack is first to it and sprints into open pasture; he doesn’t have the legs to outrun the cover but he knows who does and finds him to finish the job.
42 mins. Scotland have the first attack of the half and the pace is even quicker than the first half, if anything. Kinghorn and Graham are again prominent, but Russell’s tactical kick is easily marked by Ramos.
Second Half!
We’re back underway.
“Can we focus on the main issue tonight,” suggests Andy Bradshaw, “What in the name of all that is Holy, is that horror of a shirt that Scotland are wearing? It’s like a knock off 3rd division rugby league shirt from the 90’s. Scotland should have all their points deducted and replaced by Georgia in next years tournament. And that’s still a massive let off for them.”
Rugby League would never tolerate such a thing Andy, how dare you. Scotland look like they’ve come dressed as toothpaste.
“So, you’re allowed to headbutt someone if you’re not stood upright, ok?” asks Sam.
Mauvaka is a very lucky boy, Sam, I agree.
Scotland will be delighted at the way they came back into the half and it’s poised to be a classic. However, both teams will know the destructive potential of the French wrecking ball bench that shut the game vs Ireland down.
Half Time!
PEEEEEEEEP! That drama is the final act of a breathless, brilliant forty minutes.
40 mins. Kinghorn flies through a gap into the French half. He is scragged near the right touchline but his run has put the defence in such disarray that two phases later Jordan is over the line for a try!
BUT WAIT! The TMO spots that Kinghorn was in touch as he was tackled out wide. NO TRY! That feels like a huge decision in the context of this game.
PENALTY! France 16 – 13 Scotland (Thomas Ramos)
38 mins. France are on the attack again but they are not getting very far as Scotland continue their aggressive and organised defence. Atonio has recovered and takes a carry that leads to the visitor defence being penalised for off feet.
Alldritt knows they are in a match here and tells Ramos to take the points.
PENALTY! France 13 – 13 Scotland (Finn Russell)
36 mins. We’re all square after Russell takes the kick.
YELLOW CARD! Jean-Baptiste Gros (France)
35 mins. That latest penalty was the end of a chain of advantages being played and Gros is the man who pays the price.
34 mins. Scotland’s scrum is more than holding its own, and the latest has the ball out handily to get them on the attack via Kinghorn. They are into the 22 and up near 15 phases before France drift offside.
Atonio is down injured and it looks like it could be the end of his match.
31 mins. Mauvaka returns after a kick in behind Ramos forces the fullback to kick to touch under pressure. Scotland will have more possession in the France half to come.
TRY! France 13 – 10 Scotland (Darcy Graham)
29 mins. The visitors spread play left and a fast recycle gives Russell the time to bear down on Atonio and find Graham with a late pass on a lovely angle off his wing. A quality try that shows that this won’t be a procession for France by any means.
27 mins. The bunker have ruled that Mauvaka remains on a yellow as there was not a high degree of danger. He will return in three minutes.
PENALTY! France 13 – 3 Scotland (Thomas Ramos)
25 mins. The scrum is won and Lucu sets his pack into series of carries close to the line. They are stopped short repeatedly, but Scotland were offside and Ramos adds three more points to extend the lead and become France’s all-time top points scorer.
23 mins. A kick behind van der Merwe is pursued by Lucu but White gets back to carry it over his own line. It prevents a try but France will have a 5m scrum.
Jamie Ritchie has returned from his sin-bin.
PENALTY! France 10 – 3 Scotland (Finn Russell)
21 mins. Russell takes the opportunity from the penalty to put his side on the scoreboard.
YELLOW CARD! Peato Mauvaka (France)
20 mins. As the first quarter comes to an end, France already look to have entirely too much power and the crowd are already whipped into a frenzy. But, a very good kick from Ben White puts Bielle-Biarrey in all sort of trouble under pressure from Graham. The ball comes back on the Scotland side but as they drive into the 5m zone the home defence are tight and force a holding on penalty.
However, the TMO wants ref Carley to take a look at an incident with Mauvaka diving on White on the floor. It was missile-type dive that ended up in a flying headbutt, essentially. He’s given a yellow for a bunker review.
TRY! France 10 – 0 Scotland (Yoram Moefana)
17 mins. The necessary exit is completed by Scotland, but the kick is fielded by Ramos who sets Les Bleus on the attack once more. There’s some cute interplay between Fickou and Moefana before the centre sprints to the line and finishes under the posts with an outstretched hand.
14 mins. The resulting 5m lineout from France follows the same catch and drive pattern. It gathers threatening pace towards the line but the home side can’t exert full control and fall over as group, which means the ball is trapped in and the scrum is awarded to Scotland.
However, it’s a very tricky defensive scrum for the visitors.
YELLOW CARD! Jamie Ritchie (Scotland)
12 mins. Another lineout leads to another huge maul from France. They march into the 22 and Ritchie collapses it in the face of its inexorable power. It was very deliberate, albeit very necessary and results in a very obvious yellow.
10 mins. There’s some possession for Scotland in the French 22, but a Russsell pass bounces off Graham’s face to put Ntamack on the ball and on the run out of the danger area. He carries a full fifty metres, but Kinghorn holds him up as the defence scrambles and snuffs out the danger.
The energy from both sides is ridiculous.
8 mins. Mauvaka nicks a turnover and bundles forward into the 22. As the ball moves right it’s floated to Moefana who tickles a grubber in-goal but Russell covers across to tidy it up.
6 mins. The visitors are not here to shepherd France to victory and FInn Russell get them going with a raking cross-kick that finds van der Merwe on the left. He’s set to turn on the pace but a slip halts his plan. The pace of the game is relentless and possession is traded a couple of times.
PENALTY! France 3 – 0 Scotland (Thomas Ramos)
4 mins. More possession for France, this time via a massive maul that marches forward fifteen metres and leaves Scotland with little choice but to infringe to stop it’s murderous progress.
Ramos calls for the tee and puts his side on the board early.
2 mins. Scotland are tidy in the restart exit and France are immediately on the attack, giving nearly everyone a feel of the ball and a run. The ball comes to the right but Penaud is bundled into touch.
Kick Off!
We’re eighty minutes or so away from the tournament being won as Ref Carley toots his whistle and Ntamack boots the ball deep.
The teams are in the tunnel waiting for the French hype-man to finish his whipping up the crowd. They finally emerge into what sounds like an AI generated Jean-Michel Jarre track booming out over the tannoy.
They assume the formalities formation. There’ll be a game soon.
Officials for this deciding match:
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (England) and Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Television Match Official (TMO): Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
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Teams
Galthie has been forced into the selection of Maxime Lucu following Antoine Dupont’s knee injury, and he no doubt welcomes the return of Gaël Fickou’s quality and experience in the centres. Nolann Le Garrec is the backs cover on the bench that remains the terrifying 7-1 prospect that disassembled Ireland.
For Scotland, Gregor Brown replaces Jonny Gray in the second row while Matt Fagerson comes in for the injured Jack Dempsey at Number 8. Marshall Sykes and Ben Muncaster have been named on the bench, Six Nations debutants both.
France:
Thomas Ramos, Damian Penaud, Gaël Fickou, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Romain Ntamack, Maxime Lucu, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Peato Mauvaka, Uini Atonio, Thibaud Flament, Mickaël Guillard, François Cros, Paul Boudehent, Grégory Alldritt (captain).
Replacements: Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille, Dorian Aldegheri, Hugo Auradou, Emmanuel Meafou, Oscar Jegou, Anthony Jelonch, Nolann Le Garrec
Scotland:
Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell (co-captain), Ben White, Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Gregor Brown, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge (co-captain), Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Jonny Gray, Marshall Sykes, Ben Muncaster, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall
Preamble
After the absolute powdering of Wales by England in Cardiff we arrive at the final game of the tournament with a simple ask for France: win the game and take the trophy in front of a home crowd.
The performances coming in suggest it should be eminently achievable, but can Scotland ruin the party and hand the Six Nations to the Auld Enemy?
For clarity, a win of any sort for France is enough due to their whopping points difference, but four tries and a bonus point means an outright win.
#France #Scotland #Nations #live #Nations
