France have remembered at last. Beautiful rugby is all very well but without the route to victory they have found it empty of late. On a sunny afternoon in Paris they played beautifully and with the bloody-mindedness to make sure that, this time, there would be no forgetting to win.
Scotland arrived with a team stripped by injury. It showed. The scoreline flatters them. They found plenty of scope for expression themselves but each gap taken felt like an isolated flash rather than the sustained coherence of France’s play. After a shaky start Blair Kinghorn looked threatening in attack, as did Peter Horne, the replacements for Scotland’s most high-profile absences, but there was a lack of authority, not least up front, where France dominated the set piece.
“We missed the first 15 minutes,” said Gregor Townsend, “and we knew that was going to be a really important time. After their two defeats the first 20 minutes could either give France confidence or we could put them under more pressure. They played with confidence.”
Indeed, the French were all over Scotland. The TMO denied them a try four times but the home side were not only determined to win; they wanted a bonus point and played until the eighth minute of overtime to secure that fourth try. They could have had it much, much earlier.
It is still difficult, though, to know what to make of them. Proclaimed in some quarters as the worst French side ever seen after their annihilation at Twickenham in round two, they burst into this contest rather as they had against Wales in round one before that record-breaking implosion. They crossed Scotland’s tryline three times in the first half, playing rugby of the gods, but only one of them was to stand for a relatively modest 10-3 lead at the break.
The one they scored was spectacular, originating from their own 22, whence Thomas Ramos, one of the new generation France are feeding into their team, ran with devilry. It was a big day for the 23-year-old Toulouse full-back, invested with the kicking duties after France’s more mature half-back pairing of Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez, both goal-kickers, had been cleared out after their lacklustre start to the championship. Ramos did not disappoint for the most part.
Certainly in attack he patrolled the backline with menace and, when Horne kicked deeply and not without effectiveness into France territory, Ramos gathered and left Sean Maitland for dead. He was away and found Damian Penaud, another richly promising youngster, who found a third, Antoine Dupont, now up at the Scotland 22. A fabulous Nick Grigg tackle cut him down short but Ramos fed a fourth reason for French hope, this the youngest of the lot, 19-year-old Romain Ntamack, son of Emile, and he finished off what will prove one of the tries of the championship.
This was the first half of their match against Wales, and then some. Those two disallowed tries would have been beauties as well, featuring charging, off-loading tight forwards in concert with those brilliant backs and a back row always on hand. Exactly how rugby is meant to be played, in fact. Alas, each was undone by the subtlest of fumbles, spotted by the TMO.
France 27-10 Scotland: Six Nations 2019 – as it happened
Scotland, too, have an unfamiliar look to them but this was not by choice. They seemed suitably bewildered at times but in flashes showed there were gaps to exploit. The French, though, were conceding penalties as wilfully as ever, culminating in a yellow card for the wing Yoann Huget in the 27th minute.
A flashing Horne break set up Greig Laidlaw for one shot at goal, which he uncharacteristically missed, but a successful one just before Huget’s yellow card was all Scotland could take from the half. They could not score while Huget was away. Indeed, France’s second disallowed try came with France down to 14.
If anyone was expecting another second-half collapse, France responded with another classic. From the resumption they broke out – and nearly everyone had a go. Guilhem Guirado to the magnificent 20-year-old Demba Bamba, hooker to prop – then to wing to scrum-half to Scottish territory. At which point even Mathieu Bastareaud joined the celebration of deftness. He chipped and gathered, setting off another combination of backs and forwards, culminating in a try for Huget, a 12-point lead – and plenty of time in which to lose it.
Ali Price finished Scotland’s only try after Horne’s break with two minutes to go but there was time still for France to score their fourth, Alldritt repeating his trick off an advancing scrum eight minutes after time. It was a brutal way to complete a sublime display.