Les Bleus back to winning ways with bonus-point victory

February 26, 2023
1090
Ultimate Rugby

France got back to winning ways in the Six Nations with a 32-21 bonus-point victory over Scotland at the Stade de France.

Scotland headed into Sunday's game having opened the competition with back-to-back wins for the first time ever in the Six Nations era, but their hopes of setting up a potential Grand Slam decider against Ireland were ended as France bounced back from their 32-19 defeat to Andy Farrell's side in their last outing.

France were ahead within five minutes through Roman Ntamack, with Thomas Ramos adding the extras, and things went from bad to worse for Scotland shortly after when Grant Gilchrist was sent off for a high tackle on Anthony Jelonch.

The hosts extended their lead to 19-0 with tries from Ethan Dumortier and Ramos, though they were down to 14 men themselves when Mohamed Haouas saw red for a head-on-head hit on Ben White.

Huw Jones reduced the deficit prior to the break before going over again shortly after the restart to spark hopes of a Scotland revival, though a Ramos kick went through the posts to stretch France's advantage to 11 points.

Finn Russell then barrelled over before converting his own try to cut the lead to just four, and his team got the ball back with less than two minutes to play.

Scotland needed to go almost the full length of the field, but a penalty handed possession back to France, and the hosts capped the victory through Gael Fickou.

France bounce back from Ireland defeat

France's hopes of retaining the Six Nations took a big blow with their defeat to Ireland last time out, but they hit back with a strong first-half display at the Stade de France before fending off the visitors' late push to get back in the win column.

They made it 19 wins from their last 20 Test matches on home soil, owing much to their exploits in the opening quarter of the match.

Scotland leave it too late

It looked as if things could get ugly with Scotland losing 19-0 and down to 14 men after just 19 minutes, but they came on strongly to leave the French nervous towards the end.

Scotland came into the game having won four of their last seven Six Nations matches against France and had the ball to go and take the lead in the final two minutes, but a crucial penalty on Jamie Ritchie ended their chances of another victory over Les Bleus.