LAIDLAW’S BOOT SEES SCOTS SOAR
GREGOR Townsend promised the ‘true scotland’ would turn up this weekend, and they certainly looked more like themselves with a hard-fought victory over France thanks to a nerveless kicking display from Greig Laidlaw.
sean Maitland and Huw Jones crossed for excellent first-half tries, but it was Laidlaw’s 22-point haul which proved crucial.
The Clermont scrum-half was one of six personnel called up by Townsend this week to shake things up. And he duly delivered on his first Test start in almost a year after recovering from a broken leg.
Victory won’t erase the pain of the debacle in Cardiff but this was a thrilling riposte. not only that, it was only their second triumph in 13 games against Les Bleus.
scotland looked like the team we saw last november frightening the life out of the All Blacks and sticking 53 points on the wallabies.
It was by no means perfect and their leaky defence remains a concern, but at a heaving Murrayfield they got their six nations campaign back on track.
‘They put in a huge effort,’ said Townsend. ‘we ground out that win, especially in the last 20 minutes. we did just enough to get ahead and stay ahead. It was just a great feeling at the end.’
Yet it was France who made an early statement. Teddy Thomas, who scored a scintillating solo try against Ireland in Paris, picked up where he left off with another sublime effort after two minutes. Maxime Machenaud converted and added a further penalty as the visitors raced into a 10-0 lead.
scotland replied with a fine score from sean Maitland before Thomas struck again in the 26th minute with another audacious individual effort. Huw Jones then ran a superb line off Laidlaw’s deft pass to score his eighth try in 13 Tests, but Machenaud’s boot put France 20-14 ahead at the half.
It became a battle of the kickers as Baptiste serin, who replaced Machenaud, and Laidlaw traded a barrage of penalties. But Laidlaw held his nerve to steer the scots home with a trio of late penalties.
Unbeaten england arrive in Murrayfield in two weeks for a mouthwatering Calcutta Cup game. scotland have not beaten their old rivals in a decade and, with last season’s 60- point hammering at Twickenham still fresh in the memory, they won’t lack motivation.
‘That’s going to be a huge challenge,’ added Townsend. ‘we’re playing arguably the best team in the world over the last two years, given the amount of games they’ve won.
‘we’ve got to really put them under pressure for 80 minutes and we’ll see what happens after that.’