Scotland 29-18 France
By Nick Powell
Scotland gave themselves a real chance of finishing in the top three of the Six Nations for only the second time in 10 years as they produced an impressive performance to beat France, and hand rivals England the title.
By Nick Powell
Scotland gave themselves a real chance of finishing in the top three of the Six Nations for only the second time in 10 years as they produced an impressive performance to beat France, and hand rivals England the title.
France needed to win convincingly today and next week in the final game against England to have any chance of winning the title.
And after crossing early with a brilliant try it seemed they might well be on course for that.
But Greig Laidlaw responded with two penalties to put the Scots in the lead and that was extended as Stuart Hogg and Duncan Taylor crossed to give them an 18-5 lead.
France responded to cap off a fine first half, but after an exchange of penalties after the break, Visser scored in the corner to seal their first win over France since 2006.
The rot looked set to continue as France made an excellent start with a wonderful try. After several line breaks the ball went wide to Vakatawa and after two well time passes inside with Fofana in the middle, captain fantastic Guillem Guirado crossed to give France the lead.
France continued to have the better of the play at the start and could have been ten points to the good, but their lead was only half that as fly half Francois Trinh-Duc missed two very gettable kicks.
That very quickly came back to haunt Les Bleus as Scotland had a decent spell and in their two forays into the French half, they took six points away with two penalties for scrum offences by the French and had the lead.
They had momentum and were making metres off every phase. They rumbled on again and scored their first try as Hogg stepped right and left and reached over the line to give them the score.
Just four minutes later they were in again. France were building slowly with possession, but after conceding a penalty, Scotland took a rapid quick tap penalty and against a French defence at sixes and sevens Taylor burst over unchallenged to put Scotland in command.
But France were right back in it with a huge try on the stroke of Half Time, their first move into the Scottish 22 in a while resulted in a crucial try. After a maul rumbled to within a few metres of the line, it was only a few phases before Gael Fickou broke through to score. This time Machenaud kicked and succeeded to make the half time score 18-12.
The second half didn't start well for the visitors, as they conceded yet another penalty from the scrum. Hogg stepped up for Scotland and landed a kick from inside their own half to give Scotland a lead by 9 points.
France got themselves back within range again however, as Ross Ford was punished for coming in at the side, and then they cut the gap to three after a long period of sustained pressure, where they had turned down some attempts at the posts.
France continued to dominate and came so close to scoring again, but Scotland earned a turnover and cleared upfield and eventually found themselves attacking in the French 22 again.
They showed their match winning credentials with another clinical conversion of field position into points. With an advantage being played, Laidlaw's speculative pass was flicked down immaculately by Hogg to Visser on the wing who all but sealed the win for Scotland.
And it was done as Laidlaw slotted over a penalty soon after his conversion miss to extend the lead to 11 with only a few minutes left. France battered away at the Scottish line but the hosts held on for their first home win since 2013
It meant that despite an excellent win, there would be a taint in that their biggest rivals England were champions for the first time since 2011. They will go to France to challenge for a first grand slam since 2003 to finish off the championship whilst Scotland eye their first win in Ireland since 2010 as the pair contest the Century Quaich at the Aviva Stadium before that finale.
France continued to have the better of the play at the start and could have been ten points to the good, but their lead was only half that as fly half Francois Trinh-Duc missed two very gettable kicks.
That very quickly came back to haunt Les Bleus as Scotland had a decent spell and in their two forays into the French half, they took six points away with two penalties for scrum offences by the French and had the lead.
They had momentum and were making metres off every phase. They rumbled on again and scored their first try as Hogg stepped right and left and reached over the line to give them the score. Just four minutes later they were in again. France were building slowly with possession, but after conceding a penalty, Scotland took a rapid quick tap penalty and against a French defence at sixes and sevens Taylor burst over unchallenged to put Scotland in command.
But France were right back in it with a huge try on the stroke of Half Time, their first move into the Scottish 22 in a while resulted in a crucial try. After a maul rumbled to within a few metres of the line, it was only a few phases before Gael Fickou broke through to score. This time Machenaud kicked and succeeded to make the half time score 18-12.
The second half didn't start well for the visitors, as they conceded yet another penalty from the scrum. Hogg stepped up for Scotland and landed a kick from inside their own half to give Scotland a lead by 9 points.
France got themselves back within range again however, as Ross Ford was punished for coming in at the side, and then they cut the gap to three after a long period of sustained pressure, where they had turned down some attempts at the posts.
France continued to dominate and came so close to scoring again, but Scotland earned a turnover and cleared upfield and eventually found themselves attacking in the French 22 again.
They showed their match winning credentials with another clinical conversion of field position into points. With an advantage being played, Laidlaw's speculative pass was flicked down immaculately by Hogg to Visser on the wing who all but sealed the win for Scotland.
And it was done as Laidlaw slotted over a penalty soon after his conversion miss to extend the lead to 11 with only a few minutes left. France battered away at the Scottish line but the hosts held on for their first home win since 2013
It meant that despite an excellent win, there would be a taint in that their biggest rivals England were champions for the first time since 2011. They will go to France to challenge for a first grand slam since 2003 to finish off the championship whilst Scotland eye their first win in Ireland since 2010 as the pair contest the Century Quaich at the Aviva Stadium before that finale.
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