Has this punch gifted the title to England?
RED CARD BLOWS FRANCE’S SLAM DREAM
THe French dream of a grand Slam is over, dashed by a display of gallic indiscipline and Scottish flair.
in its place has risen the prospect of an english title, something that seemed out of the question when they were crushed by France on the opening weekend.
Typically, they French have only themselves to blame. This side had already put england, italy and Wales to the sword and travelled to murrayfield with ambitions sky-rocketing.
instead they reverted to type. Composure and control was thrown out of the window, with the match turning on a red card for prop mohamed Haouas.
France were leading 7-6 four minutes before half-time when a mass scuffle had referee Paul Williams and touch judge Wayne Barnes scratching their heads to identify the guilty parties.
Only when the replays were slowed down did it become clear that Haouas had caught Scotland flanker Jamie Ritchie with a reckless haymaker.
Williams had no option but to pull out the red card and as Haouas shamefully trooped from the pitch perhaps all French hope travelled with him. Now england top the table and are odds- on favourites to win the title when they finally get to play their postponed match against italy.
Ritchie, who had the left side of his face rebuilt with a titanium implant after breaking his cheek in Scotland’s final World Cup warm-up match last year, insisted that the instantly viral photo of the incident made the impact look worse than it was.
‘The nose is fine — i got hit in the cheek!’ Laughing, he added: ‘it’s the metal cheek, though, so it’s fine. i’ve seen the photo. i was a bit shocked. i must just have one of those faces. i don’t know how it all started. it’s just rugby handbags, then that happened.
‘i saw Nick Haining on his own with three French guys around him, so i ran in — and then got punched in the face.’
in Ritchie and adam Hastings Scotland had the two stand-out players. Fly-half Hastings was involved in the build-up to both of Sean maitland’s tries and put over three penalties and two conversions. Cool and composed throughout, it was the 23-year-old’s best performance in a Scotland jersey.
The departure of his opposite number Romain Ntamack early on with a head knock surely made his task that much easier. But matthieu Jalibert is a talented player and Hastings did well to counter the replacement’s attacking intent.
Scotland boss gregor Townsend is predicting more of the same when his side travel south for next Saturday’s game in Wales.
‘i’ve been really encouraged right the way through the campaign,’ said Townsend. ‘even the england game, we were proud of how we came back in that second half. We have been in the fight in our two defeats. But these two wins showed the mentality and confidence to get out and find a way to win.’