France were good on Saturday. France played really well against Scotland at Murrayfield. In fact, France played so well in Edinburgh that they have all-but secured a second successive Six Nations title.
France were good on Saturday. France played really well against Scotland at Murrayfield. In fact, France played so well in Edinburgh that they have all-but secured a second successive Six Nations title.
No, this isn’t some sort of drafting or publication error from the editors at All Things Rugby. The statements above are all true. It’s just that Scotland were much better. They put in one of the all-time great Six Nations performances. Hyperbole? This was the most points that Scotland have ever scored against France.
Less factual, but no less debatable, was that France were played off the park by Scotland at times, most critically in the 23 minutes after half time where Scotland extended their half time lead of 19-14 to 47-14. Yes, France made some errors in this period and their discipline was nowhere near as squeaky clean as it had been in the first three rounds, but how many sides would have done any better? We have seen Scotland have periods where they can rip apart any team in international rugby. This time, however, they took the intensity, pace and execution to another level. It was an afternoon where pretty much everything went Scotland’s way. The bounce of the ball had gone France’s way in the first three rounds (the most obvious example being the opening try against Italy in Lille) and at Murrayfield on Saturday, it did the exact opposite.
Graham (4', 58'), Steyn (26', 50'), Schoeman (31'), White (43'), Jordan (62')
Tries
Bielle-Biarrey (17'), Attissogbe (21'), Dupont (65'), Ramos (73', 80'), Jegou (77')
Russell (5', 33', 44', 51', 59', 63')
Conversions
Ramos (18', 22', 66', 78', 81')
Russell (77')
Penalties
France undoubtedly made mistakes. We even saw two from the infallible Antoine Dupont. As has been the case with his teammates and France’s performance more generally, a lot has been made of these mistakes. In isolation, France’s mistakes were eyecatching. What makes Dupont’s mistakes more eyecatching is the fact that we see them so rarely. The interception pass came from being caught in possession by Ben White and is the sort of thing that will happen to other scrum halves multiple times a season. The ‘quarterback’ style forward pass in his own goal area was mindblowing, his head is clearly scrambled, but you can also see what he’s thinking - if he doesn’t get his angles all wrong, Louis Bielle-Biarrey might well have gone the length of the pitch…
In the final 17 minutes, France reminded everyone just how good they are. The game might have been dead and buried, but they scored four tries in that period, peeling off at least two contenders for try of the tournament (from Dupont and Jégou) seemingly without even having to try. In doing so, they not only secured the bonus point that means they head into the final weekend top of the table, but they also gave themselves a significant points difference buffer. Had the scoring ended with Scotland’s final try only 17 minutes before the end (when the score was 47-19), the points difference gap would have been a far less insurmountable 12 points. As it is, France’s having a superior points difference by 58 points is effectively the equivalent of an extra point in the Championship table.
| # | Team | PL | W | L | D | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  France | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 79 | 4 | 16 |
| 2 |  Scotland | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 4 | 16 |
| 3 |  Ireland | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 14 |
| 4 |  Italy | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -24 | 1 | 09 |
| 5 |  England | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 06 |
| 6 |  Wales | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -96 | 1 | 01 |
What this means is that France winning the title is comfortably the most foreseeable scenario. Scotland haven’t beaten Ireland for 11 games, stretching back to 2017. They’ve not won in Dublin since 2010 and that was the only Scotland win in Ireland this millennium. What’s more, France host a beleaguered England side, and as much as England have fought back from disappointments to prove dissenters wrong in the past, bookmakers give France around a 16 point handicap and France have earned a try bonus in each of the games so far. They have not become a bad team overnight (or in the space of 63 minutes).
Fabien Galthié should not overreact to this result. Some changes will be necessary, due to the likely suspension of Oscar Jégou following his admission of guilt to making contact with Ewan Ashman’s eye, and following to the potentially season-ending shoulder injury to Nicolas Depoortère. However, he should not throw the baby out with the bath water, and should restrict changes to only those necessary ones: in the back five of the back and in the centres.
Yoram Moefana has come under fire more than most, and he was out of position for a couple of Scotland’s tries and line breaks. Perhaps he lacked a bit of match sharpness, and a lot of his errors could be categorised as ‘sloppy’ but, again, this can be attributed more to the excellence and the speed of Scotland’s attack. Moefana also showed some of his customary power in contact both sides of the ball, and was instrumental with some beautiful touches in the two France wondertries.
There will be calls for a return to the young Pau pairing of Fabien Brau-Boirie and Émilien Gailleton. However, this is complicated by the dislocated finger sustained by Brau-Boirie in the Italy game. It was thought he would not play a further part in the Six Nations unless absolutely necessary, but the fact he has been retained in Galthié’s 42-man squad suggests that it is a live option being considered. Regardless of FBB’s availability, the France coaching set up are big fans of Pierre-Louis Barassi. Despite defensive connection issues with Moefana, it is likely he will line up alongside the UBB man. Barassi and Moefana were the centre pairing for every minute of last year’s Championship, up until Barassi suffered a concussion in the 48th minute of the Round 4 fixture in Dublin. They represent the tried and trusted option.
The make up of the pack is trickier. Manny Meafou was excellent (once he’d had 15 minutes to get up to speed) in the final 20 minutes at Murrayfield , with thumping hits, destructive carries and some scarcely believable offloads. Moreover, Galthié has been going ‘horses for courses’ with his second row selection and, like Italy before them, England represent a stern test at scrum time for which France need Meafou’s extra ballast. It follows then that Thibaud Flament should return alongside him for that extra physicality; Flament’s presence would also be an unwelcome one for England’s misfiring lineout.
Jégou, stupidity aside, has been the pick of France’s back rowers in this tournament. In his absence, and with Meafou in the second row, France will need the lineout prowess of Charles Ollivon somewhere in their pack, so he will likely take the spot vacated by Jégou. Anthony Jelonch has shown no ill-effects from the concussion he suffered on Saturday - which was picked up by his mouthguard and something he clearly didn’t agree with - so is likely to be retained alongside François Cros. In terms of balance, a back row of Cros, Ollivon and Jelonch is not a huge departure from the one that France have started with in the first four rounds. The jury is still out on whether that balance is the correct one; it still feels like France need the aggression, tenacity and ball carrying of Lenni Nouchi from the start.
However, wholesale changes are not required at this point. Steve Borthwick even said that about his England side ahead of this final fixture, despite his side staring down the barrel of England’s worst ever Six Nations. France have been good this tournament, and they were good for large phases even in defeat against Scotland. There could, and should, be even more to come from this crop of France players, but that can wait until they’ve secured the Six Nations title.
