Time for change Seymour eyes end to 18-year winless run in Paris

● Barren spell in French capital doesn’t weigh heavily on the shoulders of a squad excited by possibility, says Glasgow winger

Winger Tommy Seymour says the fact that Scotland haven’t beaten France in Paris since 1999 is an incentive for Vern Cotter’s squad rather than a burden. The Scots will take to the field at the Stade de France on Sunday aiming to make it two wins from two in the Six Nations after beating Ireland.

went down 19-16. “We’ve had some very hard-fought losses recently over there, so before last year’s Six Nations when we played them at home we wanted to claim a win over them because of how close the previous fixtures had been,” said Seymour, who recently signed a new two-year contract with Glasgow Warriors.

“We’ve played very well in Paris in recent years and had very close games with them, but they’re a different side than those we’ve faced in some of the previous years and they look incredibly strong.

“They’re one of the strongest sides in the Six Nations, certainly in an attacking sense because they’ve got threats all over the park. They play from absolutely everywhere and their elusiveness is especially devastating so we have to be on top form.

“But we’ve got confidence against France certainly, although when it comes to playing at their stadium it’s a big motivator for them.”

Seymour’s coach at Glasgow and future one at Scotland played a big part in that 1999 epic, of course, with Gregor Townsend completing his run of scoring in every match of the championship with one of the five tries the rampant Scots ran in during a remarkable first half.

“Obviously, inspiration can be taken. You want to remember the good times,” said Seymour. “You want to remember the times that your nation has done something they should beproudof,butitisacompletely different group of players. There is such a gap.

“It’s not the case even of three or four years ago where there are slight things you can look at. We can’t review the ’99 game and say, ‘what did they do here and how did it work?’

“But you want to look at those occasions. More for us it’s a nice motivator because they went out and did something that’s incredibly hard to do. You look at what they were able to achieve, what they get out of it, how they inspired a nation – and wouldn’t it be great if we could replicate that?”

If selected when Cotter names his team today, Seymour will be keen to add to the 14 tries he has scored in his 32 caps so far but is equally focused on defence, with France’s back three of fullback Scott Spedding, pictured below, and Fijian-born wingers Noa Nakaitaci and Virimi Vakatawa just as dangerous to Scotland’s prospects as the monster pack they will field on Sunday.

“You’ve got to be very wary,” said Seymour. “They are very good with the ball. Having played with Leone Nakarawa and Niko [Matawala] and people like that at club level, these guys have similar abilities in terms of being able to get the ball out the back of the hand or suck guys in and manage to get the offload away. You have to be mindful of how much space you give them.”

That said, Seymour believes if France start offloading and

0 Tommy Seymour, pictured in action during Saturday’s win over Ireland at BT Murrayfield, looks upon playing off the cuff, it will give Scotland opportunities to counter-attack.

“We have looked at things and we will identify things that we want to try to exploit,” said the Nashville-born winger. “We certainly don’t want to kick down the throats of Vakatawa and Nakaitaci.

“Scott Spedding played incredibly well against England last weekend. They want to be coming on to the ball at pace, they want the ball in front of them.

“We’ve got to be very smart about how we operate around them. We’ll be looking to identify areas where we can avoid them getting the ball on their terms.” Joe Schmidt has challenged Ireland to emerge from any professional-era comfort blanket to set their RBS Six Nations campaign back on track in Italy this weekend.

Head coach Schmidt has laid down the gauntlet to his squad to react far quicker to unexpected setbacks in Rome tomorrow than in last weekend’s 27-22 loss to Scotland.

Ireland were 15 minutes late arriving at BT Murrayfield on Saturday, with Schmidt later conceding a rushed warmup contributed to his side’s sluggish start. Ireland leaked three tries in the first half hour in Edinburgh, with Schmidt now demanding his players quickly devise more effective coping strategies.

“I have challenged them for a better start in Italy,” said Schmidt. “It’s incredibly disappointing the way we started last weekend. I don’t think it was apathy, there was a bit of anxiety at not having had the full period to warm-up.

“Players get anxious, they get very routine-based and I do think it’s a challenge for a professional player that they can be adaptable in different circumstances, so they can still start well and cope. They