France v Scotland, 5 September

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FRANCE v SCOTLAND
5 September 2015
21:00 CEST (UTC+02)
Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Live on BT Sport 1

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges: JP Doyle (England) Luke Pearce (England)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

A. Head to Head

88 Played 88
51 Won 34
3 Drawn 3
34 Lost 51
1,243 Points 1,057

B. Recent Form

7 February 2015
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
15 – 8 France

8 March 2014
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
17 – 19 France

16 March 2013
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
23 – 16 France

26 February 2012
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
17 – 23 France

5 February 2011
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
34 – 21 France

7 February 2010
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
9 – 18 France

14 February 2009
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
22 – 13 France

3 February 2008
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
6 – 27 France

17 March 2007
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
46 – 19 France

5 February 2006
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
20 – 16 Scotland

C. Teams

FRANCE

15 Scott Spedding
14 Yoann Huget
13 Fat Bastareaud
12 Wesley Fofana
11 Noa Nakaitaci
10 Freddie Michalak
09 Sebastien Tillous Borde

08 Louis Picamoles
07 Damien Chouly
06 Thierry Dusautoir (C)
05 Alexando Flanquart
04 Pascal Pape
03 Rabeh Slimani
02 Guilhem Guirado
01 Eddy Ben Arous

16 D. Dzarzewski
17 V Debaty
18 N Mas
19 B Le Roux
20 Y Nyanga
21 M Parra
22 R Tales
23 A Damoulin

SCOTLAND

15 Sean Maitland (London Irish) – 15 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps; 6 tries, 30 points
13 Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 8 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 28 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
11 Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 20 caps; 9 tries, 45 points
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps; 1 try, 2 cons, 9 points
09 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester) – 40 caps; 3 tries, 43 cons, 85 pens, 356 points

01 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 46 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
02 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 88 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
03 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 2 caps
04 Richie Gray (Castres) – 45 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
05 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps; 1 try, 5 points
06 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps
07 John Hardie (unattached) – 1 cap
08 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby) – 27 caps

16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 11 caps
18 Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons) – 6 caps, 1 try, 5 points
19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps
20 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) – 45 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 7 caps
22 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps, 1 try, 6 cons, 9 pens, 1 drop, 47 points
23 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 96 caps, 14 tries, 70 points

Scotland should have won that. Matt Scott absolutely bombed a try with that miss pass.

Ineffable wrote:Scotland South Africa last minute chance to take a draw and go points difference to win the group? NO BRAINER

wtf!!!!!!!

In a competition game, yes, take the draw (unless you must win). In this nothing game, why not go for it?

Pleased with that performance, so long as no injuries.

Think about it. Sunday morning. World cup squads wake up to "Scotland old French to draw in Paris." It turns heads and makes teams doubt their chances especially after other warm up results.

Opportunity lost.

My quick thoughts on individual performances:

Really good: Hardie, Russell and Bennett

Good: Grayx2, Denton and Laidlaw, plus Welsh, Brown and Swinson off the bench.

OK: Nel, Ford, Wilson, Seymour and Maitland

Not good: Scott, Visser and Strokosch.

Scott's handling and passing was way off. He straightened the line nicely a few times but is so easily parted with the ball in contact.

Visser just didn't show up. When breaks were made he wasn't on the shoulder. That's supposed to be his biggest strength.

Strokosch: only thing I saw him do was drop the last ball of the game.

I think i would have gone for the post at the end and ensure a draw.

I expect better from a centre of the calibre of Matt Scott and not make a miss pass when you have a numeric advantage.

Oh Scott. What happened to the player that was Scott v1.

You are starting to become the new ndl

So we're (a) encouraged and (b) convinced by Hardie now?

I have no issues with us running that last penalty and we should have won the game before then anyway. I will give Scott the benefit of the doubt because of his lack of game time, he has looked like coming back into some form recently so he will probably take a lot from this game.

I saw an awful lot of good stuff from Scotland in this game, if they can just tighten up a tad more then we will really be competitive. Who gave us a chance in this game, we went there to test ourselves and we certainly did that!

Until Scotland have the composure to take 'now or never' winning opportunities it won't matter what the attitude of sides that will face us is. This one got away, lessons will hopefully be learned but crucially there is no cost to losing or not drawing this one. New territory for these players to be one pass sticking away from beating France in Paris.

Remember France had this planned as a confidence boosting, rack up a big score affair.

This was good experience for our young team, I hope they push on from this and everyone is passed fit later on.

Scotland would have won if they had Barclay instead of Strokosch and Glasgow would have won too

George Carlin wrote:So we're (a) encouraged and (b) convinced by Hardie now?

He is a very good player, I imagine we all already knew that and he is certainly ready to put the body on the line for the cause.

Sorry, but I am very disheartened.

Yes, we found well

Yes, we had a chance to win

Yes we fought


But we lost. Again.

10 years of this. Fed up of being plucky losers. Being close. Having a chance, but falling short

We lost. Again.

Until we actually start winning, there is very little point in getting positive

We have beaten Italy once all 2015

ITALY ONCE

George Carlin wrote:So we're (a) encouraged and (b) convinced by Hardie now?

Hardie was excellent. A proper pest for the French and borderline reckless in the defensive line.

I still don't think he should have been selected for this World Cup....

As for (a), yes. Plenty flaws to pick over. The lineout was a mess and the attack relies on individual moments of skill rather than any particular shape, but the defence is looking really good, and the courage shown by the second string front row in the last 10 minutes is heartening.

VinceWLB wrote:Scotland would have won if they had Barclay instead of Strokosch and Glasgow would have won too

Glasgow should have won despite Barclay, who did have a very good game. Strokosch selection really was the odd one, not Hardie's. They should both have gone.

Only eared the last 3/4 minutes of the game. It sounded like Scotland could of won the game in the dying seconds of the game.

Riskysports wrote:

We have beaten Italy once all 2015

ITALY ONCE

Its twice actually

Riskysports wrote:Sorry, but I am very disheartened.

Yes, we found well

Yes, we had a chance to win

Yes we fought


But we lost. Again.

10 years of this. Fed up of being plucky losers. Being close. Having a chance, but falling short

We lost. Again.

Until we actually start winning, there is very little point in getting positive

We have beaten Italy once all 2015

ITALY ONCE

Wasn't it twice?

funnyExiledScot wrote:

Riskysports wrote:Sorry, but I am very disheartened.

Yes, we found well

Yes, we had a chance to win

Yes we fought


But we lost. Again.

10 years of this. Fed up of being plucky losers. Being close. Having a chance, but falling short

We lost. Again.

Until we actually start winning, there is very little point in getting positive

We have beaten Italy once all 2015

ITALY ONCE

Wasn't it twice?

Stop using facts.....

I just assumed you were working off net figures.....

At the end of the day, these games don't actually mean anything, hence the reason why I had no issue with running that last penalty. If they had done that in the 6N I would have been livid, but that would not have happened.

This was a full bloodied warm up game for the WC and it seems that we are in shape and ready to go. We won't be undercooked this time and it did not seem that we had any serious injuries, just look at what happened to Wales.

No one will remember this game after the WC, we will be judged on what happens in the tournament. That is all that matters.

I think the tap and go was the right call - a draw means nothing, a win would have meant the first in 16 years and huge confidence going forward.

I still think we should take huge confidence from that performance though - Gray snr, Hardie, Denton, Russell, Bennett superb.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think the tap and go was the right call - a draw means nothing, a win would have meant the first in 16 years and huge confidence going forward.

Don't these games count for the IRB ranking? Surely a draw is better than a spirited loss..

VinceWLB wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think the tap and go was the right call - a draw means nothing, a win would have meant the first in 16 years and huge confidence going forward.

Don't these games count for the IRB ranking? Surely a draw is better than a spirited loss..

They count for nothing really!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think the tap and go was the right call - a draw means nothing, a win would have meant the first in 16 years and huge confidence going forward.

Don't these games count for the IRB ranking? Surely a draw is better than a spirited loss..

They count for nothing really!

Really? Well still i think a draw away from home would have been better for the moral and a confidence builder.

Well world cup seeding is based on how you did at the previous world cup, so rankings are just for the sake of having rankings as far as I understand it?

Well i guess ranking is good to have the media busy then, really thought the seeding was based on the irb ranking.

Fantastic tweet from the first lady of Scottish rugby after Matt Scott butchered the pass:

J.K. Rowling
jk_rowling

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Why do I even watch this game?

My player ratings:

Reid - 7 (Dickinson off early)

Played his part in a massive defence scrum performance camped on our line. Overtaken Grant in the pecking order now imo

Ford - 6

Part of the horrendous lineout performance, but it certainly wasn't all his fault. Usual performance apart from that

Nel - 6

Solid enough, with the scrum a bit of a lottery. He'll have had a big wake up call about what international rugby really is about after that game

Gray snr - 9

Part of the lineout malaise, but a barnstorming performance apart from that. Some big hits going in and plenty work rate.

Gray jnr - 8

As lineout caller he should shoulder most of the blame, but his carrying was excellent and usual high work rate

Wilson - 5

Hardly noticed him

Hardie - 9

My motm. Whatever we think about the scenario surrounding his selection, there's absolutely no doubt he's an international class 7 now. Very strong in the tackle, incredible work rate and massively dynamic. He could do with being more prominent at ruck time,but that may come.

I think we need to put the Hardie/Barclay/Cowan thing to bed now - this guy is a class act and it's not his fault that this has all happened. He absolutely laid his body on the line for Scotland today - can't ask for more.

Denton - 8

A strong performance, and very good in the areas he usually gets criticised for. He's going to be a key player for us.

Laidlaw - 7

Yes he needs to speed things up, but there's no doubting his tactical ability and rugby brain. I thought he dealt with the ref better this time too.

Russell - 8

A missed penalty kick aside, what a special talent. The timing of that pass back in to Bennett was superb.

Visser - 3

Was he even playing? His attempted jump for a high kick chase was an embarrassment. A decent run from the ht kick off saves him getting lower.

Scott - 7

Other than that awful, awful pass I thought he was pretty good. Marshalled their midfield well and prominent going forward. That pass was horrendous though, and cost us the chance of victory

Bennett - 9

Another incredible talent. Him and Russell are building an excellent relationship and are cutting defences open.

Seymour - 7

He took his try incredibly well, but was rusty apart from that.

Maitland - 8

Pretty solid game - high marks for an exceptional cover tackle on huget


Subs - special mention to Jon Welsh who kept the scrum up under severe pressure on our line.

Final word on the conditioning - I though we looked fit, athletic and strong, and managed to keep going for 80 minutes. The conditioning teams have done an incredible job.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Final word on the conditioning - I though we looked fit, athletic and strong, and managed to keep going for 80 minutes. The conditioning teams have done an incredible job.

I really agree with this. That France team were big. Very big. We didn't appear to be out muscled anywhere, just execution let us down a wee bit.

I don't share risky's pessimism. Apart from the line out we our pack looked like steel again. That France pack made mince meat out of England last week.

Our backs again created chances.

All in all, a solid B- for these matches.

I also applaud the ambition of going for the win. We all know Laidlaw could have kicked that and tied the game up. But this was a warm up test match. I like how we tried to play on.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Well world cup seeding is based on how you did at the previous world cup, so rankings are just for the sake of having rankings as far as I understand it?

Seedings for the World Cup are done on the irb rankings about 2 years out from the tournament.
If you finish in the top 3 of your group at the World Cup you qualify for the next one.

Majestic83 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Well world cup seeding is based on how you did at the previous world cup, so rankings are just for the sake of having rankings as far as I understand it?

Seedings for the World Cup are done on the irb rankings about 2 years out from the tournament.
If you finish in the top 3 of your group at the World Cup you qualify for the next one.

I stand corrected! I don't think irb rankings were at the forefront of their minds last night though.

True, I would have gone for the draw though. A draws more of a confidence boost than loosing. The concerning thing I noticed was that the players seemed confused what to do with a couple gesturing to the coaching staff to tell them what to do.

Bear in mind that we were one dropped pass from Glacial Al away from that being the most ballsy and fully vindicated decision of Scottish rugby's professional era.

What is anyone's opinion of one of the incidents when we were scrummaging on our own line ( the spell eventually leading to the French try), their scrumhalf fed the scrum and the ball ran the whole way through the scrum without the French hooking, one of our players (Hardie?) then hooked the ball back on our side but Barnes reset the scrum and gave France another put in. Surely that should have been our ball and regarded as one against the head? We would have cleared our lines at that point and possibly held our lead.

The ball came out the tunnel so correct decision I think.

The messed up lineout having withstood all that pressure was the real killer

French hooker failed to hook the ball Ross Ford style. Hardie hooked it back before it went out of the tunnel, play on, Scottish ball.

We're getting dangerously Welsh here if we're all about to assert that we won the game Morally.

VinceWLB wrote:French hooker failed to hook the ball Ross Ford style. Hardie hooked it back before it went out of the tunnel, play on, Scottish ball.

I thought it came out of the trunnel as well. I prefer to think that we lost because of the butchered chances at the end, not becuase of that.

Would have to see it again, but usually the only reason a flanker is able to hook it is if the ball comes out the tunnel!

Good performance from us.

Defence was mighty impressive, aggressive throughout and prevented a big French team from settling.

Scrum went well against a good French pack, thought Welsh had a fantastic cameo when we were a man down under our posts.

Line-out was shocking, lost good positions throughout the match and mistake led to their try.  I think the French deserve credit for the pressure they put on us though.

We managed the game pretty well, absorbing lots of pressure but being able to get points from our own skirmishes into their half.

Could have won the match had Scott shown more composure and used the over-lap but would much prefer to see him throw that pass in a warm-up match rather than against SA or Samoa.

Gray Snr had his best game in years.

Russell looks dangerous.

Wilson seemed really quiet, according to the stats he only made a handful of tackles and no turnovers.

*Ford made 21/0 tackles!

Woke up this morning with that familiar bitter taste you only get after a Scotland game. That cruel cocktail of pride and pain!

Still very encouraging game last night. Sure it's all be said, but damn the is some player. If only he'd be topless for that final break we'd have probably won. Delighted to be proved wrong by Hardie, great to see Scoremore back & best of all no injuries apart form Dickinson's throbbin noggin.

Roll on the 23rd

OK. My take on it all.
Dreadful game for both sides for the first half which then became.E really good in the second 40.
I agree with the tap and go at the end.aidlaw would have nailed the kick but what would we have learned.
Plusses - Hardie was fantastic, Welsh (who I have criticised before) scrummaged unbelievably well, I thought Matt Scott ran some good lines although THAT pass was horrible. Even Denton made ground and stayed on his feet as long as possible.
As someone has just said, the conditioning team have times things perfectly.
And we didn't even seem to get any serious injuries although I haven't seen any updates re Dicko, Gray Jnr and Seymour

I know I'm late to the party, but, I thought that we a very positive performance.

Apart from the line out shambles the pack performed well.

Apart from one howler of a pass Family Sized did well.
Hardie looked the real deal but looked dead on his feet at the end: but considering how little rugby he has played recently that's only to be expected.

Maitland looked competent at full back but no more, you can see why the Tombola picks Murchie instead.

If we start at this level against Japan and USA we'll be exactly where we want to be by the time we reach Noocassel pet.

p.s. GC mentioned Colemanballs earlier. I was watching the official film of the 1970 World Cup and in the Germany-Italy match we got
"Bonnisegna is rigid with joy."
Closely followed by,
"Bonnisegna is horizontal with exhaustion"

Aye it was a man's game in the 70's.

Let me clarify

On the day, I think certain areas went well - but for large portions of that game, we were under the cosh and if it was not for some dodgy passing by the French (yes we had one too), they would likely have been far and away from us quite early on.

Positives
- our scrum looking strong and almost a weapon
- No injuries
- Maitland looked like he is ready to go - and a few games more will sharpen him up
- Gray Snr looked good
- Laidlaw was not incompetent
- Russel looks the real deal


Weaknesses

-Line out - shocking - again - and not Fords fault - all the lost ones fell out of hands after they had caught them - basics basics basics
- Headless chicken and white line fever - again
- Basics letting us down - again



- We lost - again

let me repeat

- We lost again -

I really can not take the amount of positives that others are getting. We have a losing mentality and continue to impress on our inability to win - or even draw matches. It is a worry

We SHOULD have taken that draw - as a plucky loss does nothing for us.

We all KNEW we would never score a try from the penalty - we never have, and until we start winning never will - I WILL EMPHASIS - WE ALL KNEW WE WOULD NOT SCORE

We have enough plucky, could have, should have from the last 10 years - they taught us nothing - we went in losing again a close match - getting nothing from it - again

It is all exactly the same c r ap we have seen for too many year

Played well (in parts) but lost

I am completely fed up looking for scraps to be positive again - we lost - there are few positives

We go into a world cup winning against one poor team all year

I know I am negative, but I sometimes think I am the only one not seeing the positive shadows as real credentials

Yours

Frustrated

RiskySports

Jeezo, Monday morning has hit you bad Risky!

Have a and and you'll be grand

Risky Risky Risky, chill man! Such stress is not good for a man your age!

I had Scotland losing that game by 30 points, so if you want to know how I can gleen a positive, there you have it.

Onwards and upwards. I think we now know with reasonable certainty the identity of the 1st XV, and I can't see them having any issues with Japan. Let's just take one game at a time now:

1st XV:

1.Dickinson 2.Ford 3.Nel 4.J Gray 5.R Gray 6.Strauss 7.Hardie 8.Denton 9.Laidlaw(c) 10.Russell 11.Seymour 12.Scott 13.Bennett 14.Maitland 15. Hogg

16.Welsh 17.Brown 18.Reid 19.Gilchrist 20.Wilson 21.SH-C 22.Horne 23.Lamont

Done.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Jeezo, Monday morning has hit you bad Risky!

Have a and and you'll be grand

Now I feel even grumpier - I have coffee, but no cake

Doooooooommmmmmm, we are all dooooomed

Well I'm celebrating 5 years since starting work with my company, so the cakes are on me this morning!