Wales win Six Nations title after France suffer Paris defeat to Scotland

Scotland's Duhan van der Merwe (left) in action during the Guinness Six Nations match

Scotland sealed a dramatic 27-23 victory over France to win in Paris for the first time since 1999 and hand the Six Nations title to Wales.

Les Bleus had to score four tries and win by 21 points or more to claim the Championship crown and they did neither as Duhan van der Merwe’s 84th minute effort won it for Gregor Townsend’s side.

It means Wales finish the 2021 tournament as surprise winners. It also represents some turnaround for Wayne Pivac’s after a horror 2020.

This match had been scheduled for February 24, but was rearranged after France suffered a Covid-19 outbreak at the time of the planned fixture. Fabien Galthie’s men were fortunate that was the case because they had broken lockdown rules prior to the outbreak taking place.

That they were given an extra shot at the title after the other teams had finished their fixtures was at best kind on them and at worse, an embarrassment to the Six Nations.

To that end, the Championship’s organisers were probably pleased Wales were not left heartbroken by France for the second straight week.

Scotland’s George Turner and Grant Gilchrist tackle Gregory Alldritt of France. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Wet conditions weren’t ideal for France knowing they needed a convincing win to steal the Championship from Wales. That didn’t stop Brice Dulin from taking a quick line-out on his own line.

Gael Fickou did brilliantly to reclaim a Romain Ntamack high ball and after Van der Merwe was carried over his own line, the France fly-half kicked a penalty following a monster home scrum.

Scotland’s forwards then got to work in response. Van der Merwe ended up with the try, but it was his pack which did the series of damage following some fine driving play.

Television replays showed Van der Merwe could well have been done for double movement, but Finn Russell converted and then kicked a penalty.

Scotland were managing the wet weather the better.

Russell and Stuart Hogg produced supreme kicks to touch and the blue set-piece was solid.

Ntamack then passed forward and although he did kick a second penalty, France’s first half lacked the required accuracy. Scotland did though concede a string of penalties underneath their own posts amid constant French pressure. Eventually Les Bleus went over through Dulin after Van der Merwe missed a poor tackle on Damian Penaud. 

Scotland's Hamish Watson is tackled by Gregory Alldritt and Julien Marchand of France. Picture: INPHO/Dave Winter

Ntamack nailed the touchline kick and just before the break Hogg went off his feet and paid the price with a yellow card following his team’s poor discipline. France lost a poor attacking line-out on the half-time whistle and turned around with plenty of work to do at 13-10 up. Scotland conceded a mammoth 11 first-half penalties and had Hogg in the bin for the start of the second period too. It was no surprise then when France made it two for the night.

Penaud did superbly to kick ahead and score after Vrimi Vakatawa’s offload. The kick was missed.

Penaud grounded the ball despite being tackled off the ball by Ali Price and there was a case for a penalty try and the Scottish scrum-half joining Hogg in the bin. Referee Wayne Barnes disagreed.

France's Brice Dulin scores their first try despite Finn Russell of Scotland. Picture: INPHO/Dave Winter

Russell responded with two penalties either side of Sam Johnson being dragged down after a superb run. France made plenty of changes, but at the hour mark they had serious work to do.

It was now the home side who were on the wrong side of Barnes and Scotland’s replacement hooker Dave Cherry crashed over for his third try in two games.

From a line-out drive it looked like Scotland had spilled the ball forward, but instead France’s Swan Rebbadj had ripped it loose and Cherry capitalised. Russell’s kick put Scotland ahead.

Rebbadj immediately made amends with a third French try, but the champagne corks were already popping in Cardiff. Russell was sent off lane on for fending off Dulin with a forearm to the neck, but France also lost replacement Baptiste Serin to a yellow just two minutes after he came on.

Scotland pushed hard for victory late on and finally broke through in more late drama thanks to Van der Merwe’s second which meant they finished fourth.