Brown rues crucial decision

Scotland flanker Kelly Brown insists he was wrongly denied a try during his side’s RBS 6 Nations defeat in Paris.

Brown touched down after prop Allan Jacobsen tackled France scrum-half Sebastien Tillous-Borde as the home side defended a five-metre scrum on their way to an unconvincing 22-13 triumph.

But, with France leading following a disputed 45th-minute try when Maxime Medard appeared to feed Fulgence Ouedraogo with a forward pass, referee George Clancy blew for a penalty.

Scotland continued to press and Thom Evans grabbed his first try for his country to allow Chris Paterson to close the gap to six points going into the final 10 minutes.

However, Lionel Beauxis kicked his fifth penalty to leave Scotland with too much to do – and wondering what might have been had Brown not been foiled by the referee’s whistle.

Brown said: “My take it on it was ’Chunk’ (Jacobsen) went through when the nine had hands on the ball, and I picked up and went over.

“The referee called it offside against Chunk. It was a close call.”

Brown was an 18th-minute introduction following a shoulder injury to Jim Hamilton, the only specialist lock in Scotland’s 22.

The enforced change meant Simon Taylor joined Jason White in an unfamiliar role in the second row.

Scotland’s pack, much criticised following their opening defeat by Wales and still without the injured Nathan Hines and Euan Murray, again found it difficult in the scrum.

That contributed to the 13-7 penalty count which ultimately cost Scotland the game, although head coach Frank Hadden refused to accept his bench selection had backfired.

“Obviously we’re disappointed that happened the way it did,” Hadden said.

“You weigh up the risks when you take them and you cannot cover everybody on the bench.

“Did it have an impact on the outcome of the game? Who knows? Maybe we got better as a result of it, it’s almost impossible to tell.”

Brown added: “It’s difficult but it’s something we had trained for all week.

“We sat down and discussed what happened if Jim got injured or Jason got injured.

“So we planned for that and I thought we coped fairly well because obviously it’s a big loss.”

Despite being outmuscled at crucial times, Scotland were far more aggressive than they were during that 26-13 defeat by Wales.

They also showed more ambition with the ball in hand than their hosts, despite at times being let down by handling errors and lack of support.

Hadden will face intense pressure to lead Scotland to victory over Italy at Murrayfield on February 28, but he is taking some solace in his assertion that Scotland’s opening two defeats have not been as bad as they were against the same sides last year.

He said: “We didn’t have the sort of preparation that some of the other teams had and it’s going to take us a while to get going in the championship, but I think we’re certainly further down the road than we were this time last year and I honestly believe we can finish this tournament on a high note.”

Glasgow back-row Brown added: “I think in comparison to Wales we definitely kicked on a lot and there were a lot of improvements, but there’s still a long, long way to go.

“It’s a very mixed emotion. It’s positive because we played better but at the same time we’re pro sportsmen and we are paid to win, and we didn’t.”

As well as Hamilton’s shoulder, the Scotland medical staff were today assessing injuries to White (knee) and centre Graeme Morrison, who limped off with an ankle injury in the latter stages.

Simon Danielli and Phil Godman, who converted two out of three penalty attempts, both suffered dead legs.