READY FOR FRENCH WARFARE
Townsend message ahead of Paris crunch
SCOTLAND..52 ITALY..10 ALL roads now lead to Paris on Friday night for Gregor Townsend’s Scotland after a record win over Italy put them in the frame for a best Six Nations finish.
The Scots are guaranteed fourth place in the table ahead of both Italy and England, while a bonus point win by more than six points against France would clinch second place.
That would be the first time Scotland have finished higher than third during the 21 years since Italy joined the party.
It is going to be a massive challenge against a French team who can win the championship if they take the game by 20 points or more.
But the Scots will head into the match on a high after running in eight tries against the Azzurri.
They have also been boosted by news that an 11th-hour deal has been brokered to ensure the team’s English-based players – including captain Stuart Hogg – will be released to play in the Stade de France.
With Finn Russell fit again after concussion and Jonny Gray hopeful of being back after a shoulder injury, Townsend feels his squad is in a good place physically and mentally for the challenge ahead – despite the tight six-day turnaround. He said: “It’s going to be the same for France – they
played on Saturday evening so will have a six-day turnaround as well.
“We were in the same situation last week, so we know the format.
“There will be a light training session on Monday, a day off on Tuesday, then we will have as much of a competitive session as possible with speed and with contact to get everyone primed for our game.
“One positive around our preparation is that we don’t have to do too many meetings to preview France because we did that three weeks ago before our game was postponed due to Covid.
“The players should know who our opposition are and what they will bring.
“We’ll analyse their game against Wales and if we see them do anything differently, we’ll be able to share that within the squad.”
Townsend gave a number of fringe players a chance to prove their worth against
the
Italians and was delighted with how that worked out.
He knows he is going to have some tough selection calls to make ahead of the France game.
Townsend said: “Scott Steele and Dave Cherry, on their first starts for their country, were both outstanding.
“You look for players to take their opportunities by working hard, by being confident, by connecting with others in the team – and they both did that.
“It was great to see them score tries and be part of a winning team on their first starts. Huw Jones also did well and I thought the backline all looked dangerous.
“In fact, there were a few times I was urging the midfield to have more of a go themselves.
“We were getting to the wide channels when maybe it could have been on to play through Italy a bit more. But when we did, we looked dangerous and Huw was one of those players who looked the most dangerous.
“We’ll have a good review of Saturday’s game to see whether players are going to be selected again this week, to see whether they’re right for our game plan for France.
“We’re now going to have a situation where we’ve got more players to select from, more players with game experience putting pressure on those who started those first three games.”
Scrum-half Steele welcomed the news he will be released by his club, Harlequins, for Friday’s final clash.
He said: “We’re all aware of the challenge we’re facing in Paris and it’s something we’re obviously looking forward to as a squad.
“Right now, the priority is to get the bodies right so we can go out there and have a real crack at it.
“It would be massive to go and get our first win in Paris for the first time since ’99.
“We’ll have to learn from the Italy game, study the things that worked and the things that didn’t work.
“But that’s the target – to go over there and get the result that everyone wants.”