France stride to victory without breaking sweat

SCOTLAND skipper Chris Paterson has tipped France to lift the RBS 6 Nations title in Paris next weekend.

Scotland 0 France 31

Paterson was on the wrong end of a 31 point drubbing yesterday as Les Bleus maintained their impressive 100% record and set up a final-day showdown with England on Saturday.

And having assessed the merits of both teams, Paterson reckons France’s combination of flair and much-improved discipline will see them wrest the European crown back from English hands.

“France are a better side than England,” he said. “I know England are the world champions but they have lost some key players since then, which means the French have a more experienced side.

“They play some fantastic rugby but you also have to look at the disciplinary side of things. It always used to be regarded as a French weakness but when we played them in the World Cup they restricted us to three penalties and they didn’t even allow us that today.

“They are a very good side and I think they will just edge it next weekend,” said Paterson.

The result sets England the daunting task of defeating France by eight points in Paris to retain their Six Nations crown.

France coach Bernard Laporte was less forthcoming about his team’s chances, even though they strode to victory without breaking sweat.

The visitors were never troubled once Olivier Magne had marched in for a sixth-minute try and a succession of Dimitri Yachvili penalties kept Scotland at bay until centre Yannick Jauzion capped an outstanding performance with a late brace.

“England are the best team in the world, which tells you the difficulty we are facing next week,” said Laporte, who confirmed influential fly-half Frederic Michalak will be fit for next Saturday’s encounter despite being forced off yesterday with a neck injury.

“I think we have continued to improve steadily as the tournament has gone on and this was probably our best attacking performance of the entire competition. We will obviously need to do that again to beat England.”

Laporte is only too aware that his side moved as impressively through their World Cup campaign as they have the Six Nations until they froze in the Sydney semi-final against England. Yet the coach remains convinced there will be no mental hangover at the Stade de France next weekend.

“There will be no problems in the mind from that game,” he insisted. “The conditions were against us and a few other things didn’t go our way either, not least the fact England played very well. We will be ready for Saturday but that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy for us.”

While Laporte will spend the next seven days plotting England’s downfall, Scotland’s Matt Williams knows his ailing side must defeat Ireland in Dublin to avoid an unwanted wooden spoon as the first “prize” of his reign as coach.

Williams was dismayed to see the improvement from his pack that he had demanded following the defeat to Italy a fortnight ago was matched only by the disintegration of a back division which failed to remotely threaten the visitors’ try-line until the final two minutes.

“We can’t get all the aspects of our team going at the same time,” he said. “One area works in one game, then in the next we improve somewhere else and the initial part goes downhill.

“It’s difficult to put any pressure on the opposition when we can’t go through more than two or three phases of possession at a time but I am convinced we are moving forward.

“We are asking a lot of young guys to step into the shoes of some experienced players and it won’t be until they have 15 caps behind them that we will know exactly what we have got.”

SCOTLAND: Lee, Danielli, Philip, Henderson, Webster, Paterson, Cusiter, Jacobsen, Bulloch, Douglas, Murray, Grimes, White, Mather, Taylor. Replacements: Parks for Lee (57), Blair for Cusiter (39), Kerr for Jacobsen (34), Russell for Bulloch (65), Hines for Grimes (51).

FRANCE: Brusque, Elhorga, Jauzion, Traille, Dominici, Michalak, Yachvili, Marconnet, Servat, De Villiers, Pelous, Pape, Betsen, Lievremont, Magne. Replacements: Peyrelongue for Michalak (40), Bru for Servat (51), Bonnaire for Lievremont (49). Referee: Scott Young (Australia).