Scotland redeem themselves with victory over France

CHRIS Ha r r i s’s c onver te d second-half tr y gave Scotland t hei r f i r st w i n i n si x Test s as t hey beat France 17-14 in a Rugby World Cup war mup Test at Mur ray f ield on Saturday.

Harris’s effort and one from Sean Maitland at the end of the first-half – also converted by Greig Laidlaw – helped the hosts win from behind and bounce back from the humiliating 32-3 thrashing by Les Bleus last weekend.

Pleasing for head coach Gregor Townsend – who made 14 changes to the starting XV from the first match – was they held the French scoreless in the second-half. Worryingly he lost three players to injuries in Tommy Seymour, Sam Skinner and Blade Thomson on his debut.

Fra nce, li ke last weekend, scored ea rly on w it h Clermont winger Damian Penaud dott ing dow n a f ter 110 seconds, repeat i ng club tea mmate, Alivereti Raka’s feat in Nice.

“It was a great opportunity for us after last weekend and winning makes it all the sweeter,” Scotland captain Laidlaw said.

“We never started well but we dug in deep and had trust in the group. Our defence went a long way to winning the game - and international rugby is all about winning,” he added.

The visitors’ captain Guilhem Guirado praised his side’s impressive start but complained about their failure to cross the Scottish line during the final 40 minutes.

Ominous start

“We started very well, we put a lot of pressure on them with our defence. It’s a pity we lacked accuracy,” Guirado told France TV.

“What we lacked was keeping the ball well, as to be more dangerous. We also scored zero points in the second-half which is a shame,” he added.

Things looked ominous for the Scots early on as Penaud intercepted and ran half the length of the pitch to touch down in the second minute. Thomas Ramos converted.

Laidlaw reduced t he def icit shor t l y a f ter wa rds w it h a penalt y.

The Scots showed much more enterprise than in the previous clash, Sean Maitland making a great solo break deep into French territory but his good work was spoiled as the home side conceded a penalty allowing the visitors to relieve the pressure.

An error by Finn Russell cost the Scots dearly a few minutes later.

The f ly-half fa iled to gat her a high ball giv ing t he French possession. When it came to Gael Fickou he burst through midf ield, leav i ng Mait la nd a nd Rya n Wi lson t r a i l i ng, t hen passed to Penaud who ra n it in.

Ramos converted for 14-3. Russell tried to redeem himself with a beautiful chip over the French backline but Maitland could only flick it back inside on the touchline and Stuart Hogg was unable to gather the ball.

Mait la nd had more joy at t he end of t he f irst-half as he went over for his 12t h Test tr y a f ter Russel l found him out wide.

Laidlaw knocked over an excellent touchline conversion to send the hosts in at halftime trailing by just four points, 14-10.

The Scots went ahead for the first time in the match on the hour mark as Laidlaw fed Harris, who crashed over. Laidlaw added the extras to lead 17-14.

After that, the Scots closed the French down, extinguishing any hopes the visitors had of just their fourth away win since the last World Cup.