France 25 Scotland 10

Scotland’s latest long wait for victory in Paris was further protracted yesterday when they allowed a French resurgence that could have resulted in a much heavier beating than the scoreline ultimately suggested.

As so often, their hosts had been considered to be in disarray, only to dominate in every department.

The home team set about the opening half with similar gusto to the way they had set about building the 16-point lead they were to throw away against Wales in the tournament opener at the beginning of the month. And their failure to hold a similar advantage at the interval this time around was down to their own mistakes rather than anything the visitors did to stop them.

However, there was also a substantial difference to the way they set about the second period, Yoann Huget’s try little more than a minute into the second period immediately re-asserting their superiority after the break.

From the outset they had been on the front-foot as Damian Penaud clattered into Sean Maitland as he caught the opening kick-off, while Sebastien Vahaamahina gave his side a further lift by stealing the ball at the first Scottish line-out, on a day that saw the visitors struggle in set-piece play.

France looked to have gained their first reward when a Nick Grigg turnover in their territory ultimately resulted in Antoine Dupont sending Penaud into the right corner, only for the first of three television replay sessions that all went Scotland’s way. The scrum-half was adjudged, on this occasion, to have knocked on before delivering the scoring pass.

That did nothing to deflate them and they opened their account soon after, another counter launched this time by Thomas Ramos, who worked his way past both Sean Maitland and Laidlaw to find open field, with substantial support. He then released Penaud who, in turn, fed Dupont who was hauled down 10 metres short. The ball was quickly recycled and shifted to Romain Ntamack, who had four men outside him and just one defender to beat, but opted to finish it himself.

Then came a wild pass from Pete Horne, who struggled throughout his time standing in for Finn Russell before Adam Hastings took the field to play with sufficient verve to reinforce all the doubts raised about the original selection. Horne's pass put his own team under the pressure, resulting in Ramos extending the lead.

Scotland’s bad day got worse when Greig Laidlaw’s first chance to get on the scoreboard saw his penalty attempt rebounded off the far post, but he was given an unmissable chance from under the posts soon after.

When Huget was then yellow-carded for a cynical ruck infringement, they were within a score, boasting a numerical advantage.

That made no difference to the pattern of play. Indeed, they should have been further behind by the time Huget returned, after Ntamack looked to have put Gael Fickou in, only for an earlier knock-on by the ubiquitous Wenceslas Lauret to see it ruled out, while Ramos also knocked a penalty chance wide.

In effect, France were making just enough errors to keep Scotland in the game, but the half ended aptly with Laidlaw throwing a pass behind two team-mates and into touch, to take the captain and his similarly relieved colleagues into the dressing room.

Their hopes of a Welsh-style revival all but ended immediately after the resumption as Dupont put Huget into the left corner at the end of a move sparked some 80 metres away on the right of the French 22 by Demba Bamba. The French prop allowed Dupont to take play into Scottish territory and Mathieu Bastareaud showed unsuspected skills with a chip-and-catch as the ball was worked across the field thereafter.

Ramos missed the conversion and, with the gap still such that a score could make the French jittery, a desperate last throw of the dice saw a cavalry of six Scottish replacements sent into the fray simultaneously with just over a quarter of an hour remaining.

With Scotland's fresh legs came an energy that drew a response from the French management as did likewise five minutes later.

Thereafter, trial by television denied France a fourth time when a burrowing Fickou was deemed not to have got the ball down amid a cluster of bodies, but the try that ensured their win was merely delayed.

Scotland’s pack caved in at the resultant scrum, allowing replacement Gregory Alldritt to plunge over the line.

All too late in the day, a break by Horne, now switched to centre, let him put Ali Price in and Hastings’ conversion brought double-figured respectability.

But France rightly had the final say when, some seven-and-a-half minutes into injury time, Alldritt ploughed over for his second and his team’s bonus point try.

Scorers: France – tries: Ntamack, Huget, Alldritt. Cons: Ramos, Serin. Pen: Ramos

Scotland – Try: Price. Con: Hastings. Pen: Laidlaw