Gregor Townsend hailed Scotland as the best Six Nations rugby this year, although his team’s Grand Slam hopes were dashed at the Stade de France on Sunday.
After a nightmarish start, conceding two goals in eight minutes and receiving a red card, Scotland nearly made an incredible comeback led by Finn Russell and Hugh Jones to finish 32-21 without fending off the pressure they were chasing the reigning champions. France.
In the end, Gael Ficou gave the hosts a bonus point by trying in the last minute to add Romain Ntamak, Ethan Dumortier and Thomas Ramos, who scored the remaining points, to the points.
An early red card went to Grant Gilchrist, who hit Anthony Jelonch in the head with a shoulder, for which referee Nika Amashukeli gave him the correct order.
Despite this moment of craziness, Townsend said: “I was very proud of the team today because we probably played our best rugby game of the tournament and didn’t win.
“It’s strange to say that even though you had two big wins, I think some of our games today were excellent. A lot of it was based on performance when we were weak and still playing at the same speed as we did, but it also required a high level of skill. And then there was resilience, removing a person, reducing points, returning to the game, but we were very disappointed.
“We were disappointed that we didn’t have more points on the board in the first half. We crossed the line twice and didn’t score and we had chances in the second half.”
If the result reflects a French-dominated game, then it was in fact Scotland that controlled the domain and territory, with 55% of the former and 60% of the latter. They beat 17 defensemen as Russell took control of the game and challenged his backline with a series of light, subtle and great passes.
But despite having possession, they failed to convert their chances in decisive moments and the loss of 17 points shows the difficulty Scotland had when it came to keeping the ball in critical moments.
Gilchrist’s exile forced Townsend to reorganize his pack, and the hapless Hamish Watson left the field for Johnny Grey.
A glimmer of hope came in the 12th minute in the form of a red card for France’s Mohamed Howas, whose shoulder touched Ben White’s head, but Scotland failed to convert despite two attempts by Jones from both sides at half-time and another from Russell.
“We felt we could win this,” Jones said. “I think after a really difficult start we got back in the game, I think we had an advantage in the second half, we played a lot of rugby.
“It got to the last 10 minutes and we couldn’t cross the line and then they crossed the line from our side. It’s hard to accept. Yes, it’s hard”.
Winning the bout in their own 22nd with two minutes to go, Scotland appeared poised to run 100 yards and take the winner, but a stage later the change showed Ficow scoring as the clock ticked up. Red ticked, broke Scottish hearts and held the titles of France. hope is alive.
Source: I News
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