WHEN a certain result has not happened for what seems an inordinate time, we sometimes regard the statistic as a fluke or a freak – just one of those quirky things that happen in sport.
When it comes to Scotland’s woeful record in Paris, however, there is – as Greig Laidlaw pointed out yesterday – an all too rational explanation.
The French, no matter how flaky they may be on the road, are formidable opponents in the Stade de France.
And the Scots, no matter how much promise they may be showing in their present incarnation, have been a pretty uninspired bunch at times since their last and so far only win in the stadium.
So when the scrum-half and captain was asked if he and his teammates could take inspiration in Sunday’s Six Nations Championship match from the team that won there so handsomely in 1999, he began with a reminder of just how tough France are to beat at home.
“Firstly, there’s a reason why no Scotland team has won there in such a long time,” Laidlaw said. “It’s a hard place to win. For any team.
“But the team that won in ’99, they inspire us, for sure. Now that’s a record we want to grab for this group of players. Rather than seeing it as a burden, we go out there determined to win.
“We ended one record at the weekend – our first opening win in the Six Nations since 2006,” he continued, referring to the 27-22 home win over Ireland. “Well, ’99 was a good few years before that, but we know what we want to do. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. It’s going to be a tough, tough game – and we really need to be smart out there. We’re under no illusions.”
Scotland’s last Six Nations game in the Stade de France was two years ago this week, when they lost 15-8. If that was a close contest, they came closer still in the autumn of 2015, when they lost a World Cup warm-up match by just three points – and if they had chosen to go for goal with a late penalty they might have ended up drawing rather than losing 19-16.
“We have been pretty close to them on our last few visits and that does give us belief,” Laidlaw added.
“In the pre-World Cup game we could have taken a draw but we wanted to go for a win.
“We’ll need accuracy and strength, as the French have big men. We’ll also need to be subtle and clever in our attack. We need to move France about and really play for 80 minutes. We need to be in the game right up to the death and not allow France to get any momentum.”
With the crowd in full voice, the Stade de France can be an intimidating place, but if France get off to a slow start the same crowd can turn on their team – something that Laidlaw hopes his team can provoke by beginning the match in the same high-tempo way that they started against the Irish.
“The crowd is different from other rugby crowds, and that’s something we can use to our advantage,” he said. “That first 20 minutes, it’s very, very important for us playing away from home. If you can hear the whistling from the crowd in France, you know you’re doing something right in the game. We focus on the start of the game and, although we’ll need to play for 80 minutes, hopefully we can turn the crowd against them a bit early on.”
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