Murrayfield clash: Scotland to battle Les Bleus

Six Nations is back on the scene this weekend, bringing some prominent clashes to the fields of Europe for Round 3. 

Proceedings will kick off at Murrayfield where an intriguing fixture sees the Scots take on France.  

After a fantastic start to the tournament with victory over England, Scotland marched – justifiably confident – to Cardiff in the hope of making it two from two. The Welsh backlash was real, however, and Wayne Pivac’s men fought hard to win back some pride after being embarrassed by Ireland in Round 1. 

Scotland hooker Stuart McInally was critical of his team’s ability to close out the match. 

“I’ve been in a lot of Scotland changing rooms and sometimes they have been on the back of losses because we’ve been out played by a better team, and that’s easier to live with,” he said.  

“But today, you look around the changing room and see the quality of the players and we know we are so much better than that. 

“Although we give a lot of credit to Wales for playing well and seeing that game out, we really feel that we were sub-par today. So, it’s a great chance for us to connect and get tighter and we can’t wait to play France now – all eyes are on that. 

“It’s always the same after a loss – the initial feeling is devastation and disappointment because you want to do well for the group and for the people of Scotland,” he added. “It is a devastated dressing-room. We know the opportunity that we let slip there. It is heart-breaking. We prepare well, we respect the opposition – this is a group that works hard – but, ultimately, we just didn’t play well enough today. 

“We saw last week how important for the whole of Scotland it was to get that win over England – the influence it has on our supporters – and we wanted to replicate that again today, so we are heartbroken that we couldn’t do it. 

“But Hoggy spoke well after the game in the changing room. It is disappointing, but we’ll review it, and this championship is still wide open. We’ve got France at home and we’re going to go into that full of belief. They are obviously an excellent team, but we’ve had good some results over them recently so we can’t wait to move on now.” 

Meanwhile, interest poured into the Round 2 fixture of France vs Ireland as the teams occupying the top of the log locked horns in Paris. In the end, it was Les Bleus who triumphed in a good, tight Six Nations contest.   

“That was tough,” said Fabien Galthie. “We had a tough as teak adversary even if that does not surprise us. 

“It is a beautiful victory which we went after with all we had in the locker. Even if we lacked maturity in our replacements, we had a moment when we were treading water, but the replacements [eventually] brought the energy in what we required. 

“We received the Irish well, we welcomed them well, now we are going to recuperate and have to go away twice.” 

The Scots will be buoyed by the fact that they have triumphed in their last two encounters against France; 28-17 at Murrayfield in 2020 and a fantastic, 27-23 victory at Stade Francais last year: 

However, Scotland assistant coach AB Zondagh does not believe too much can be read into the past, especially considering the recent form of the current French side. 

“France have evolved as a team and we’ve changed ourselves as a team,” he said. 

“It’s a new task in hand and it’s going to be a different game. We just have to be prepared for the challenge. 

“France are a very good team. They’ve beaten New Zealand, Ireland and Italy. They could be considered the best team at the moment. So, it’s going to be a tough challenge. 

“We’re going to have to pitch up and concentrate for 80 minutes. We’re preparing to face up to the challenge although it will be a tough game I’m sure.” 

Arguably the most potent combination in France’s arsenal lies in the half-back pairing of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack – two players very familiar to Zondagh who coached them at Toulouse before joining up with Townsend and Scotland. 

“I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing to know what threats they bring but their quality is obvious. It is something we are going to have to deal with and we will have to see what happens with both of them. 

“The way they perform during games speaks for itself. They are world class. Antoine is not nominated for the best player in the world for no reason. I won’t be speaking to them this week, we don’t speak that much. 

“France is a team that plays as a team. They don’t rely on just one or two individuals. Dupont can break and open up a game and add seven points here and there but they are a quality side across the board. It is not just individuals we have to look out for. 

“They’ve obviously been playing together for a long time and they understand each other – they click well on the field. But there’s a lot of quality in that French team. When a guy like Matthieu Jalibert is on the field he brings a different skill set and different strengths. 

“But they definitely have a good link as a nine and ten on the field. They are a dangerous pair and they’re players that we’ll watch – but not more or less than we will watch every single other player in the team. 

“France are a very dynamic team and they can target certain areas of the game for certain opposition. The breakdown is a massively important area for the game and we’ll need to be squeaky clean in terms of our support, linking and looking after the ball. 

“We’ll have to be really sharp. But we know what their threats are. We’ll be prepared.” 

Scotland have made three changes to the side which fell to Wales in Round 2. Rory Darge is set to make his international debut on the blindside flank, replacing Sam Skinner who shifts to the second row. 

At the back of the scrum, Magnus Bradbury replaces Matt Fagerson at number 8. 

The final change is at tighthead where Zander Fagerson comes in for WP Nel.

This is a rivalry which goes all the way back to 1910. Overall, of the total of 98 matches between the two sides, France are ahead with 56 victories to Scotland’s 39. With the form both sides have shown recently, this could be one of the greatest contests between the two proud nations to date. Scotland will be significantly more dangerous on their hallowed home turf of Murrayfield, but the magic that the French can produce if they find their rhythm could see them knocking over Townsend’s charges in spectacular fashion. The Scots will be especially aggressive at the breakdown where they will attempt to slow down French possession in a bid to starve the electric French backline of opportunities.