Scotland (17) v France (19), 8 March

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Scotland    vs France   

RBS 6 Nations
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Saturday 8th March, 2014
KO 1700

Referee: Chris Pollock



Assistant Referees: George Clancy, JP Doyle

A. Squads

Scotland Squad REVISED:

Forwards: Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, David Denton, Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (all Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Grant, Jonny Gray (both Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Jim Hamilton (Montpellier), Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), Moray Low, Pat MacArthur (both Glasgow Warriors), Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors), Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Tim Swinson and Ryan Wilson (both Glasgow Warriors).

Backs: Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Jack Cuthbert, Nick De Luca (both Edinburgh Rugby), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Max Evans (Castres), Dougie Fife (Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg, Ruaridh Jackson (both Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens) and Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors).

NO HARLEY, RENNIE or K LOW

French Squad:

Vincent Debaty, Thomas Domingo, Yannick Forestier, Brice Mach, Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Rabah Slimani, Alexandre Flanquart, Yoann Maestri, Pascal Pape, Sebastien Vaahamahina, Virgile Bruni, Alexandre Lapandry, Wenceslas Lauret, Bernard le Roux, Damien Chouly, Antonie Claassen, Jean-Marc Doussain, Maxime Machenaud, Morgan Parra, Jules Plisson, Remi Tales, Mathieu Bastareaud, Gael Fickou, Remi Lamerat, Maxime Mermoz, Yoann Huget, Maxime Medard, Hugo Bonneval, Brice Dulin

B. Previous matches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd7YAfmRSls  2013  L
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_7_quuZcsY  2012  L
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zpi55BQmRM 2011    L

C. Teams

France Team:


France team: B Dulin (Castres); Y Huget (Toulouse), M Bastareaud (Toulon), M Mermoz (Toulon), M Medard (Toulouse); J Plisson (Stade Francais), M Machenaud (Racing Metro); T Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), B Mach (Castres), N Mas (Montpellier), Y Maestri (Toulouse), P Pape (Stade Francais, capt), S Vahaamahina (Perpignan), A Lapandry (Clermont Auvergne), D Chouly (Clermont Auvergne).

Replacements: G Guirado (Perpignan), V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), R Slimani (Stade Francais), A Flanquart (Stade Francais), A Claassen (Castres), J-M Doussain (Toulouse), R Tales (Castres), G Fickou (Toulouse).

Scotland Team:



Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh); Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Castres), Jim Hamilton (Montpellier), Johnny Beattie (Montpellier), Kelly Brown (Saracens, capt), David Denton (Edinburgh).
Replacements: Ross Ford (Edinburgh), INJ OUT Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh) IN Moray Low, Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Max Evans (Castres).

D. Watch out for...

Richie Gray https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSpiYWB-5Sk

Yoann Huget https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYWJyeLoUAs

PS Thanks to George Carlin for previous match threads. I've tried where possible to continue your style and structure.

i'm enjoying this game. poor french lineout, but some great attacking and counterattacking play.

very few knockons which is also nice

tigertattie wrote:Domingo is setting so low that cross should be leaning on him making Domingo take all the weight. We should be face planting the French scrum each time.

We need to be smarter.

Domingo was boring in though, penalty should have been to Scotland.

Golden wrote:Hamilton is a penalty machine

I get bored hearing commentators say he always plays on the edge. Someone like McCaw plays on the edge and doesn't draw penalties. Hamilton crosses over into clear illegality with tiresome regularity. That's not playing on the edge.

This is the best chance Ireland have of beating France in France as they are terrible.

VinceWLB wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Domingo is setting so low that cross should be leaning on him making Domingo take all the weight. We should be face planting the French scrum each time.

We need to be smarter.

Domingo was boring in though, penalty should have been to Scotland.

I think Pollock is being consistent at the breakdown, which is all you can ask. He is getting it wrong at the scrum though.

Gavin Hastings makes Nigel Mansell seem a far superior orator. He should record a CD for insomniacs. Great player but as a pundit he sucks the big kumara.

very true. unless ireland get unlucky and face a resurgent france (like england in the knockout stage of rwc2011 after france lost 2 group stage games)...but looks extremely unlikely!

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Gavin Hastings makes Nigel Mansell seem a far superior orator. He should record a CD for insomniacs. Great player but as a pundit he sucks the big kumara.

completely woeful i agree. he needs to stop making dumb comments about the scrum for example

Worrying that France are still within a score. For all of Scotland's superiority, they should be up by more. Let's see how France reacts after the half time rark up.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Pollock might have a pollocks name but he's making this a fair, open contest. Scotland kicking game is superior as France's kicking game and lineout is woeful. When they chance their arm more and run the ball they look good. Which begs the question why don't they do it more.

They don't always have the privilege of a pollock.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Gavin Hastings makes Nigel Mansell seem a far superior orator. He should record a CD for insomniacs. Great player but as a pundit he sucks the big kumara.

  They should stick McGeechan in there - nice to hear him again.

C´mon Scotland. Ireland sent off BOD in style. Send off your pitch in a similar manner!

This France lineout is a mess, never seen worse from them.

If France were the India cricket team, lawyers would be frothing at the mouth. This lineout is a rucking shambles.

WTF Weir

 

What a shocking pass to attempt there. The try was on without that big pass.

My gran would have caught that interception.

Weir, hang your head in utter shame

Game changer right there.

Actually lawyers would be ejaculating after that Weir pass. Both sides seem to be throwing this game.

Another one for Weir.

Genuine 14 point turnaround. All of this talking up Scotland at half time.
Surely we know that we can take nothing for granted.

Someone get Finn Russell on the phone

  Beat you to it Jiffy. why did he have to hail mary that pass? Go thru the hands fgs!

Jesus wept. They do all the hard work, get the turnover near the French line and it's all about composure. Much like the play before with the ambitious chip to Gray. Keep the rucking ball in hand and don't get too fancy.

C'mon Scotland get your heads together

Is it going pear shaped for scotland

scotland wtf u doing

Scotland have played very well and I know not many people like Denton but I think that he has played well.

Ford is on. Presumably to even up the numbers of bonkers crooked lineout throws.

Obviously Scott Johnson feels France are too poor at the line out so he's rolled ford out to even things up

Now scotland s lineout will go wrong with ford on.

When do you skip a player out in a pass? When it sends somebody into space to get them on the outside of the opposition. When you have numbers in the line, align yourselves so you make those numbers count. Don't throw your advantage away by going wide too early.

France will be wondering how are we in the lead! They seem more interested in fighting among themselves.

Why on earth aren't Scotland kicking for the corner (especially from that free kick), France can't win their own throw!

Weir's impression of Jonathon Sexton is not a good one...

Scotland are doing everything in their power to lose this.Doing my head in.Lord knows how the Scots fans cope!

Two poor teams playing poor rugby.

Duncan weir is playing his way out of the 10 shirt this evening.

Weir has lost confidence need a change

Have France had a gameplan at any point in this 6 nations?

wales606 wrote:Why on earth aren't Scotland kicking for the corner (especially from that free kick), France can't win their own throw!

I think they feel they need to get back into the game after that interception. But they've got time. They need to pick their moments. The French team is not doing much so just be patient. Open up the game and the game becomes easier for an obviously disjointed French side.

The Scottish players seem to have the mental constitution of a heavily pregnant lady, one try conceded and the players revert from playing some of their best rugby for some time to their performances against Ireland and England, Brown and Laidlaw need to get the players going again.

Seriously, if we can't beat this French side we should be ashamed.

Ford

My god this is painful to watch. Fords second lineout, not straight...

Well done ford. Great squint throw

Parra to come back next week and orchestrate a fantastic win over Ireland - you know it's going to happen

If the scores don't change Duncan Weir will, unfortunately, discover the true meaning of hero to zero.

The feed was not straight?

If we win our last two games, France beat Ireland, Wales beat England and England beat Italy then five teams will finish with three wins and two defeats.