The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Injuries to two captains not to blame for loss, insists Cotter
But Watson felt Les Bleus ‘were there for the taking’ as Paris woes continue
Greig Laidlaw suffered an ankle injury and was on crutches after the game although still being assessed. John Barclay and John Hardie suffered head injuries and there were plenty of bruised bodies in the visiting dressing room after a brutally physical battle.
“I think it’s fair to say the play didn’t come off,” said Cotter. “They actually got the upper hand at scrum time which gave them field position on a couple of occasions, when we needed field position we didn’t have it.
“Then there were a couple of turnover balls that if we’d played it more effectively it might have been different. Credit to the French team they applied pressure all the way to the end.
“It was hard work, a fiercely contested game.”
Cotter didn’t think the injuries contributed to his side’s defeat.
“We train for those scenarios,” he said. “It’s not ideal but we’re not using that as an excuse. We showed a lot of courage in defence, not giving up a try when they had that 10 minutes on our line, but some bits of our game didn’t link too well, and we’ll look to improve that.
“But the guys dug in hard, even losing a couple of players, and we regrouped reasonably well.”
Jonny Gray ended up captaining the side at just 22, and he said that they had no excuses whatsoever.
“The feeling in the camp is very disappointed, but mistakes were made and we’re a very honest group.
“Could it have been won? I don’t think you can think like that. Credit to France – they applied a lot of pressure in different ways and it’s the unforced errors that we’re disappointed in, a few mistakes at critical times.”
Cotter said that he hadn’t spoken to Russell about the conversion miss.
“We were looking at players who were injured, but obviously it’ll come up in conversation tonight,” he said.
Hamish Watson, who had a storming game with ball in hand and winning turnover ball, said that he felt France were there for the taking.
“When we got the ball and held on to it, we all made yards,” he said. “At times, though, we would just give the ball away a bit stupidly.
“Yes, the game was there to be won. Definitely. When Tim scored that try, I think you saw that France were there for the taking.
“But then, from the kick-off, we gave away the ball straight away – and they scored a penalty two minutes later.
“They managed to draw it level pretty quickly. If we had kept that lead and just executed properly, maybe got another penalty, their tails would have gone down. We could definitely have gone on and won the game.”
Watson added that Scotland hadn’t done the basics as successfully as they did to pull the Ireland game out of the fire in the dying moments a week before.
“If you look at the first try, we didn’t panic, we went through the phases, didn’t try any stupid off-loads – and then
scored in the corner. In the second half we didn’t do enough to tire them out, hold on to the ball and use our backs out wide.
“Instead when they drew it level straight away and then went into the lead, we were trying to chase the game.
“We needed to realise it was still just a three-point game at that stage. When it got to six points, it was always going to be tough. We didn’t look after the ball.”
Try hero Hogg admitted Scotland had only themselves to blame after slipping to defeat.
“It’s tough going out there,” Hogg said on BBC One.
“France are a massive physical pack and they brought it to us. But we chucked it away. Our errors cost us throughout the whole game. We didn’t look after the ball, didn’t respect it, and ultimately that’s cost us.
“It wasn’t the result we were looking for. Our next job now is Wales in a couple of weeks and we have to get ourselves back on the horse.”
France coach Guy Noves was relieved to get a much-needed victory.
“We had lost three games in a row so we needed the victory, that was all that mattered,” he said.
“Scotland displayed good quality, they gave us a hard time, especially in the rucks. We lost too many balls and showed our weaknesses in the 22.
“But I’m very happy for the players. Last week we lost to England in the final 15 minutes and I’m delighted to win this game in the final 10 minutes.”