The search for consistency goes on for Scotland, and the agony of it was writ large across the demeanour and words of Stuart Hogg after their 36-17 humbling at home to France. “It’s a horrible feeling,” the Scotland captain said. “I’m not going to lie. We want to be able to give a true reflection of ourselves and what we’re about. At times we showed that, but just not enough.”
Scotland were enterprising in the first half, albeit after falling two tries behind within a little more than 10 minutes of kick-off, but they let slip a couple of golden opportunities, the most glaring when Hogg himself spilled a long pass just before half-time. “I’m gutted with that one,” he said. “I let one go, which could have changed the whole momentum of the game. It’s something I’m absolutely devastated with. It is what it is. For us it’s about hard truths, hard lessons about where we’re at as a team. France took their opportunities and that’s the difference in the scoreline right now. It’s absolutely horrible.”
Hogg’s fumble before half-time was a turning point but the real story was the quality of France, who were ruthless with their finishing. Gregor Townsend rates them as the strongest France team he has faced as coach of Scotland.
“We know their strengths, but it’s their ability to turn good ball into tries. Their backline is strong, and the scrum-half obviously is a very good player. But the thing that stands out is their front five, their ability to carry and keep the ball alive. They’re very clinical close to the tryline. A massive tradition of French rugby is the way the players react to space. They’re up there with the All Blacks as being the best at exploiting that turnover ball.”
More ominous still for the rest of the championship is the way France seemed to take this resounding win in their stride. Raphaël Ibañez, the team manager, almost shrugged when asked to rate it.
“We all think it was a pretty good performance,” he said. “The team responded well. It was our first away game in this Six Nations. For the team it’s just another step towards the Six Nations. We know we still have room for improvement.”
One other notable feature of France’s win was the vocal contribution of their travelling fans. “There had been a long, long period without winning matches,” said Antoine Dupont, purveyor of yet another scintillating display, “and now we haven’t won the tournament for 12 years. We have to be careful not to be complacent and to remain very rigorous, very demanding, so that we can go on giving the most of ourselves for the supporters.”
