France v Scotland - Match thread

[George Carlin]

First topic message reminder :

16th March 2013
Kick off: 21:00 (Local) / 20:00 (UK/Ireland)
Stade de France, Paris

Match officials:

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Clownshoes Clancy (Ireland) and Lourens Van Der Merwe (South Africa).
TMO: Carlo Damasco (Italy)

TEAMS:

France:

15 Yoann Huget
14 Vincent Clerc
13 Mathieu Bastareaud
12 Wesley Fofana
11 Maxime Médard
10 Frederic Michalak
9 Morgan Parra

8 Louis Picamoles
7 Thierry Dusautoir
6 Antonie Claassen
5 Yoann Maestri
4 Sebastien Vahaamahina
3 Nicolas Mas
2 Benjamin Kayser
1 Thomas Domingo

Replacements:
16 Guilhem Guirado,
17 Vincent Debaty,
18 Luc Ducalcon,
19 Christophe Samson,
20 Yannick Nyanga,
21 Maxime Machenaud,
22 Francois Trinh-Duc,
23 Florian Fritz or Gael Fickou.

Scotland:

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)

14 Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors)
13 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors)
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby)
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby)

10 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) vice-captain


1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) vice-captain,
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)
3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors)
4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped
5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)
6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan)
7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) captain
8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier)

Substitutes
16 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors)
17 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors)
18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby)
19 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
20 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors)
21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors)
22 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)
23 Max Evans (Castres)

Not considered due to injury: Alasdair Dickinson and Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Chris Cusiter and Chris Fusaro (both Glasgow Warriors), David Denton and Ross Rennie (both Edinburgh Rugby) and Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby).

Form Guide:

France:

9/3/13 Ire 13 - 13 Fra

23/2/13 Eng 23 - 13 Fra

9/2/13 Fra 6 - 16 Wal

Scotland:

9/3/13 Sco 18 - 28 Wal

24/2/13 Sco 12 - 8 Ire

9/2/13 Sco 34 - 10 Ita

Official Match Preview (courtesy of Sportsbeat):

Philippe Saint-Andre has reiterated the point that his long-term objective for France remains the 2015 World Cup - but in the short-term he knows only too well the value of an RBS 6 Nations victory over Scotland on Saturday.

Saint-Andre's side and Scotland will bring the curtain down on this year's competition with France seeking to avoid finishing bottom of the pile for the first time in RBS 6 Nations history.

They remain without a win in seven Championship matches but Louis Picamoles' opportunist try and Frederic Michalak's nerveless conversion sealed a 13-13 draw with Ireland last time out and a first point of the competition.

Scotland were the last team to succumb to France in the RBS 6 Nations, last February, and Saint-Andre can point to the fact that after poor showings against Italy and Wales, les Bleus have demonstrated improvements against England and Italy.

But should they fail to beat Scotland at home this weekend and Italy get something at home to Ireland, they will collect the wooden spoon, something Saint-Andre is desperate to avoid.

"At least we will not be playing to avoid a whitewash," he said.

"It's important to see that the players showed a reaction. On Saturday we want to play the whole match with that intensity for the full 80 minutes.

"I will of course, as is my nature, assume total responsibility and take the blame for the campaign.

"The federation and the committee director gave us a target to prepare for 2015. We will continue to work towards that objective.

"I take the responsibility because I have always done that, I have never tried to shift it on to others in my career."

If Scotland are to ensure France finish bottom, they will have to defeat les Bleus for the first time in seven RBS 6 Nations clashes and will have the carrot of the possibility of finishing the Championship in second, should they win - and England defeat Wales - with a healthy points swing.

To do so however, they will have to improve on their performance against Wales last time out when too many penalties conceded saw Leigh Halfpenny kick the Red Dragons to a 28-18 victory at Murrayfield.

Regardless, there have been plenty of beacons of light for the Scots and interim boss Scott Johnson, with impressive wins over Italy and Ireland already secured.

But Johnson is under no illusions as to how his side must react to their defeat to Wales.

"We showed great heart and great resolve but we have to look at ourselves rather than at anyone else," said Johnson.

"I don't want to coach a side that apportions blame to someone else, we will go back and have a look and if we have to make changes we will do so, but we will go to Paris to compete.

"The frustrating thing for us is that we think we have a world class scrum and we think we have a world class line-out but we can't get to show it.

"When we get it right, we've got a quality team.

"I keep saying it; we have the ability to put teams to bed but we have to get the first bit right and we're not.
"We don't want our mirror to lie. Our mirror is going to be clean."

[George Carlin]

Fickou should not be allowed to play. He's Really Quite Good and that's merde that we should simply not have to put up with in our rebuilding phase. Thank god Julien Bonnaire retired.

Amazing statistic that lining up for all the penalties amounted to almost exactly 40 minutes by itself. Genuinely, truly moronic way to conduct this sport.

[JDCSR]

Interesting that France have selected that behemoth to play opposite Hamilton (I'm not going to try and spell his name). Looking forwards to seeing who gets the better of that arm wrestle.

[funnyExiledScot]

Arm wrestle is probably the right word. If the forecast and pitch are as expected, this will be more mudbath than bloodbath (see what I did there...).

[George Carlin]

Oil painting versus oil slick

[TJ1]

Both sides have nothing to lose. Lets hope they remember its an entertainment business and make a good game of it. To much dull rugby this series.

At least we have a ref who is sympathetic to the game and in good form

[tigertattie]

France have everything to lose.

If they fail to win then they will not have won a game in the whole championship and the wooden spoon will be on its way

[RDW]

Just looking at the psyche of both nations I think it is fair to say we shouldn't expect anything other than a Frence victory:

France have their backs to the walls and everyone thinks they are crap - they will pull out a massive performance and suddenly look like world beater

Scotland, subconciously or not, will be happy that they are not fighitng for a wooden spoon and will be pleased with the 2 wins so far - might not have the desperate need to win.

[funnyExiledScot]

Either that or the French players will have figured out that Saint-Andre is a clown, and the best way to get him fired is to present him with the Spoon....

It's Friday, I'm optimistic.

[TJ1]

for scotland I think it more likely a monkey off their backs - no wooden spoon this year - this could give them a bit more freedom to play

[GLove39]

If ever we're going to get a win in Paris this is the year.
Laidlaw to show the Parisian crowd a kicking master class and Michalak to panic and throw a mad intercept pass / get charged down.

[IanBru]

This is it. I don't know what it is, but I feel something special is coming tomorrow. So, either Scotland will beat France in Paris, or Natalie Portman will finally answer my letters.

Whatever happens, it's going to be boombastic.

[Solid8]

I think it is more likely that Natalie Portman will appear at your front door in buff and ask you to do rude things to her than we get any kind of special victory tomorrow.

I remain hopeful that both will happen though

[Taylorman]

This is it. I don't know what it is, but I feel something special is coming tomorrow. So, either Scotland will beat France in Paris, or Natalie Portman will finally answer my letters.

Whatever happens, it's going to be boombastic.

Isnt she fantastic Ianbru?
My fave of them all.

Movie star with best actress for Black Swan, post graduate, Lecturer, humanitarian, vegan, political and anti poverty campaigner and 'most' of all drop dead gorgeous...

Good luck with the letters! but I think Scotland might have more chance of the two...

[bsando]

Fickou on the bench check out this video of his skills... Really wanted to see him play this 6 nations but not against us!! Him and fofana at centre could be deadly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NA7Yynu9bY

[George Carlin]

I think it is more likely that Natalie Portman will appear at your front door in buff and ask you to do rude things to her than we get any kind of special victory tomorrow.

I remain hopeful that both will happen though

Reminds me of that great Clive James line when someone asked him how he'd like to die.

"I would like to be knifed to death in an Elle MacPherson lingerie commercial"

Fickou looks awesome. I thought he was injured. That try against Quins in the Heineken Cup was one of my picks of the year.

[poddy89]

anyone else think that this should be matt scotts last chance to prove that he deserves the jumper,

for me i have always thought he is very slow for a back and lacks creativity, he just does everything ok so its never good or bad, this centre partnership has been wrong and for the summer i think both should be changed, dunbar looks a good prospect for 12 and 13 we have grove, horne?, the saracens lad, maybe a bit early for bennet? all i think deserve the chance because these dont work for us and are holding are back 3 back

do you think lamont will retire or hang about until he was forced out? scotland seem to be too loyal and we shouldnt be scared to look for the best option,

[Glas a du]

Allez Ecosse!

[bsando]

I think Scott is a bit like Barritt for England, a bloody good defender. But he is also a good passer of the ball and crash balls very aggressively when needed. I think he deserves the 12 jersey. But his big flaw, as you point out Poddy89, is that he is pretty darn slow for a professional inside centre. He needed Visser for that try vs NZ and the only thing preventing from scoring that first try vs Italy was his speed. Perhaps he could do with losing a bit of muscle?

I think he should be playing at 13 with either Horne or Dunbar at 12. Especially now when Ansbro is injured.

In fact, how many of you would be backing Johnson for the coaching job fulltime if he had played Brown at 6 every game with a proper openside in the squad and both Dunbar and Horne getting a go at centre with Lamont covering the bench instead of Evans? I think I would actually be more open to him being coach if he had done that. But his selections have been so uninspiring, apart from giving Harley and Weir a start.

I said at beginning of tournament that Johnson should look to play a few newbies vs Italy. Imagine if he had done that? We might be sitting on 6 points this weekend instead of 4, or at the very least, he would have a better idea of where Scotland are and more options to choose from for what will be a tough game today. Lancaster played some different players vs Italy, and sure they nearly lost the game, but how much better must he feel for doing that before todays game vs Wales?

[JDCSR]

anyone else think that this should be matt scotts last chance to prove that he deserves the jumper,

for me i have always thought he is very slow for a back and lacks creativity, he just does everything ok so its never good or bad, this centre partnership has been wrong and for the summer i think both should be changed, dunbar looks a good prospect for 12 and 13 we have grove, horne?, the saracens lad, maybe a bit early for bennet? all i think deserve the chance because these dont work for us and are holding are back 3 back

do you think lamont will retire or hang about until he was forced out? scotland seem to be too loyal and we shouldnt be scared to look for the best option,

This is head in hands stuff right here. The fact that we aren't using our backline so far this 6N is nothing to do with Scott and everything to do with the players who have been at 9 and 10. Scott is a good passer of the ball, he has great hands and he is creative. If he's chucked the ball with some space to work with then he will do plenty of damage. That isn't going to happen with the current tactics but it's not an excuse to drop him either. He's done everything asked of him in this tournament, defended solidly and played superbly against Italy when we managed to get hold of the ball. He might not have lightning pace but he's hardly cripplingly slow either.

Just think for a minute about the previous occupants of the 12 shirt over the last few years...Henderson, Morrison, Dewey etc. All one dimensional crash ball merchants/knock on machines. Scott is far superior to all of them and we're spoilt in that we actually have good options now. Horne is a superb player, his creativity and passing are top class and I can't wait to see him get a chance in the 12 shirt for Scotland, I also look forwards to the next few years with both battling it out for that shirt. I expect Dunbar and Bennet to do the same in the 13 shirt. But right now it doesn't matter who we have at 12 because we have issues to sort out in front of them.

[jimbopip]

JDCSR, right you are; the lack of creativity stems from 9-10 rather than 12-13.
SRU I shelled out far too much money taking no.1 son up for the Wales game to spend 80 minutes gettings a stiff neck watching balls soaring high above Murrayfield.
You Owe Me:
A scrum that will
A 9 that will pass/run
Wee Dunky/ Rhuaridh given the ball often enough to do something
A back three not on starvation rations.
If we get that the result will take care of itself ( if not today then soon enough)
Singing our anthem with my son on Saturday was one of the highlights of my year so far- now give us some rugby!

[TJ1]

Laidlaws issue has been in part he is under pressure all the time. Too much slow ball

[George Carlin]

So the worst Scotland can do is come third this year? Aces.

[Imperialbigdave]

Yet another Matt Scott to blame for scotlands performances despite hardly getting the ball post. I just dont know how he can be criticised when the ball never goes past the 10.

edit: By all means, judge him if hes getting the ball and not doing anything, but all hes had to do this tournament apart from the italy game is defend, and hes done that pretty well.

[JDCSR]

Yet another Matt Scott to blame for scotlands performances despite hardly getting the ball post. I just dont know how he can be criticised when the ball never goes past the 10.

edit: By all means, judge him if hes getting the ball and not doing anything, but all hes had to do this tournament apart from the italy game is defend, and hes done that pretty well.

Don't worry son, I've already stepped in to defend the lad.

[tigertattie]

What ifs eh

What if we had our heads out our backsides and beat Wales??? This could gave been a game for the championship.

Oh well.

No matter the result we are 3rd. Might as well use this game to see what we can do.

[Cari]

COME ON SCOTLAND!!!

[cakeordeath]

I have a bad feeling about this.

[Cari]

Well hopefully Scotland will play like they've nothing to lose and not get overwhelmed by the setting.

[Cari]

Lovely singing from the lads there actually. Good to hear plenty in the crowd too. It's belting down with rain there....hopefully that will favour Scotland more than France.

[Cari]

Nigel Owens refereeing tonight. Hopefully he'll be in a good mood then

[Biltong]

I would SOOOOOOOOOOOO like Scotland to win this one.

[Cari]

Ah booo. Bit of butterfingers from Hoggy there.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

I was living in Paris in 1998 and have fond memories of Scotland securing the last 5N. This can turn an average season into a good one. Scotland must attack. They have been playing within themselves too much of late. Take the game to France and use the counter attack.

[cakeordeath]

Did I mention I have a bad feeling about this one!

We played England in the first game and they played really well and then went downhill. France have been poop all championship, they will probably play out of their skins

[nathan]

why does Hogg look like he's crying when playing?

[Cari]

The pitch is cutting up badly tonight. Poor line out there.

[Cari]

I like the fact the crowd are chanting "Allez les Bleus" when Scotland are in blue and France in white.

Someone's squeaking a horn that sounds like a kid's toy...it's annoying.

0-3 after eight minutes.

[RDW]

Worrying scrums - pitch is a farce!

We're so far behind the game line in attack

[tigertattie]

Why. Why do we keep kicking away turnover ball?

[RDW]

Why can't we win attacking lineouts?? No one jumped!

[Cari]

Luckily for Scotland there, France are pinged. Surprised they didn't run in a try all the way then.

[tigertattie]

Grrrr

[Cari]

Great penalty from Laidlaw.

0-6 at 14 minutes. Keep it ticking over nicely Scotland...

[tigertattie]

Stop

[tigertattie]

Kicking

[tigertattie]

Stupid kicking. And no chase.

[nathan]

the balls going to feck off in a hole in the ground soon.

[tigertattie]

Michelak could well win this for Scotland.

[Cari]

To be fair, that's great defence from Scotland. France should've scored twice now.

[cakeordeath]

knock on ffs

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