SLOW-OFF-MARK SCOTS MADE TO PAY BY NTAMACK
SCOTLAND coach Gregor Townsend said his team’s slow start was key to their defeat in Paris as they could do little to tame a resurgent French side led by a scintillating Romain Ntamack.
Tries by Ntamack, Yoann Huget and Gregory Alldritt (2), and five points from the boot of Thomas Ramos as well as a Baptiste Serin conversion restored some pride for Les Bleus.
Scotland had only Greig Laidlaw’s first-half penalty and a late Ali Price try converted by Adam Hastings to show for themselves.
“We messed the first 10-15 minutes,” Townsend said. “We had done well in training but we just started the match poorly and we knew it would be a real important time in the game. The way France came into this game on the back of two defeats, we could have put them under more pressure.
“It put us on the back foot and after that we got much better, we had seven penalties and they had a yellow card which should have led to more than our three points.”
Scotland dominated possession but not territory and they struggled to break down the French defence. We broke the line a couple of times and had opportunities to score but we never took them,” said captain Laidlaw.
“It’s not technical, we need to be more vigilant because otherwise it makes it harder to stamp our authority on the game.”
FRANCE ............ 27 SCOTLAND ........ 10