Laidlaw puts the boot into France
France’s dismal run continued at the weekend when they failed to win for the eighth consecutive time in a 32-26 defeat against Scotland in the Six Nations at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Scotland prevailed thanks to tries by Sean Maitland and Huw Jones, with man of the match Greig Laidlaw adding two conversions and six penalties in a perfect kicking performance.
Les Bleus, who have not won an international Test in 329 days, scored two tries through the impressive Teddy Thomas, Maxime Machenaud adding two conversions and two penalties, with replacement scrumhalf Baptiste Serin also scoring a couple of penalties. France, who lost influential flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert in last weekend’s 15-13 defeat by Ireland, were again hit by injuries as Machenaud had to make way for Serin at halftime.
Scotland, humbled 34-7 by Wales last weekend, trailed for 70 minutes but eventually had too much in store.
France took a dream start as Thomas slalomed through the Scottish defence and touched down after a dazzling 45m run. Machenaud converted. The scrumhalf added a penalty in the 10th minute to increase the lead as the visitors proved more aggressive. Thomas also defended well as he ran across the field to kick the ball out after Stuart Hogg had threatened with a clever through ball.
However, the Scotland backs showed their talent with Maitland at the completing end of a well-worked try on the left side. Laidlaw converted to reduce the arrears to just three points behind their opponents.
But Thomas chipped the ball into space on his rightwing and collected it after Laidlaw was deceived by the vicious rebound before touching down between the posts, setting up Machenaud for a routine conversion.
Scotland responded when Jones burst through the defence after the hosts had unsettled France with some high-tempo moves. Although Scotland dominated, Machenaud opened a six-point advantage with a lastsecond penalty at halftime.
Replacement Serin traded a couple of penalties with Laidlaw early in the second half.
Laidlaw added another at the hour as Scotland breathed down France’s neck.
The visitors lacked discipline under high pressure and Laidlaw slotted two other penalties to put Scotland ahead for the first time of the game. He added his sixth penalty with three minutes left, forcing France to go for a converted try in order to avoid a seventh defeat in eight games. That try never came as Scotland had the upper hand in a ruck in their 22m.
Scotland next host England on February 24 as France will take on Italy the previous day in a game that might give the losers the dreaded wooden spoon.