France v Scotland, 5 September

      
FRANCE v SCOTLAND
5 September 2015
21:00 CEST (UTC+02)
Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Live on BT Sport 1

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges: JP Doyle (England) Luke Pearce (England)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

A. Head to Head

88 Played 88
51 Won 34
3 Drawn 3
34 Lost 51
1,243 Points 1,057

B. Recent Form

7 February 2015
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
15 – 8 France

8 March 2014
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
17 – 19 France

16 March 2013
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
23 – 16 France

26 February 2012
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
17 – 23 France

5 February 2011
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
34 – 21 France

7 February 2010
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
9 – 18 France

14 February 2009
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
22 – 13 France

3 February 2008
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
6 – 27 France

17 March 2007
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
46 – 19 France

5 February 2006
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
20 – 16 Scotland

C. Teams

FRANCE

15 Scott Spedding
14 Yoann Huget
13 Fat Bastareaud
12 Wesley Fofana
11 Noa Nakaitaci
10 Freddie Michalak
09 Sebastien Tillous Borde

08 Louis Picamoles
07 Damien Chouly
06 Thierry Dusautoir (C)
05 Alexando Flanquart
04 Pascal Pape
03 Rabeh Slimani
02 Guilhem Guirado
01 Eddy Ben Arous

16 D. Dzarzewski
17 V Debaty
18 N Mas
19 B Le Roux
20 Y Nyanga
21 M Parra
22 R Tales
23 A Damoulin

SCOTLAND

15 Sean Maitland (London Irish) – 15 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps; 6 tries, 30 points
13 Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 8 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 28 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
11 Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 20 caps; 9 tries, 45 points
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps; 1 try, 2 cons, 9 points
09 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester) – 40 caps; 3 tries, 43 cons, 85 pens, 356 points

01 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 46 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
02 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 88 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
03 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 2 caps
04 Richie Gray (Castres) – 45 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
05 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps; 1 try, 5 points
06 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps
07 John Hardie (unattached) – 1 cap
08 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby) – 27 caps

16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 11 caps
18 Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons) – 6 caps, 1 try, 5 points
19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps
20 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) – 45 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 7 caps
22 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps, 1 try, 6 cons, 9 pens, 1 drop, 47 points
23 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 96 caps, 14 tries, 70 points

As promised, it's the battle of the girlfriends with Jimbo's facing off against FES'.

Have we really not beaten France in 9 years? Jesus.

George Carlin wrote:As promised, it's the battle of the girlfriends with Jimbo's facing off against FES'.

Have we really not beaten France in 9 years? Jesus.

Is it rearly a surprise that Scotland have not won against France in 9 years? What with some of the teams that Scotland have put out.

Could be an interesting game...

French pack and reserve pack look very handy. It will be interesting to see who PSA selects and as well to see who Cotter is considering his first XV.

If Scotland win this it could start worrying the Boks camp

maestegmafia wrote:Could be an interesting game...

French pack and reserve pack look very handy. It will be interesting to see who PSA selects and as well to see who Cotter is considering his first XV.

If Scotland win this it could start worrying the Boks camp

I would rather we wrapped our first 15 in cotton wool now, and put out the "possibles" against France.

Yes, there is nothing to be gained and everything to be lost from playing guys like Russell, Hogg and Jonny Gray against France. Can't see Cotter doing it - sod's law one of those guys get broken with the Big Show about to start.

PSA should put his first team on (specially the backs who need to practice set plays) otherwise I dont see the point of that game. So roughly the same squad that beat England plus the return of Dusautoir.

George Carlin wrote:Yes, there is nothing to be gained and everything to be lost from playing guys like Russell, Hogg and Jonny Gray against France. Can't see Cotter doing it - sod's law one of those guys get broken with the Big Show about to start.

If your target is to only beat samoa and to put your 2nds against SA then I see your point. In any case keep Russell away from Bastareaud

I might be wrong but is the squad not due to be announced before the trip to gay Paree? As in there will be some very disappointed young men left at home and once we have taken out the third choice hookers, scrummies and the nearly fit backs we only have about 24 or 25 players to pick a match day 23 from. Cotton wool may not be possible.

Playing our best XV
PRO- A win here would send confidence rocketing and set us up for what's to come.

CONS- If we lose players, like Dancer, we are Donald Ducked. If we win and our confidence rockets we could easily lose touch with reality and get too far ahead of ourselves.

My preferred starting Xv

Shrek-Rambo-Angela

Hagrid- Richie

Harley-Wilson-Hardie

Samwise

Jackson

Scott12-RichieV

Visser-NoMaits-Schlong

To me Dancer, Seymour, Henners, Hogg, Horne should all be protected. Same with Dickinson, Nellie, Ickle Jonny, Barclay and Claire Baldwin.

p.s. Dancer showed yesterday just what a class act he is and probably did irreparable damage to Meatball's international, and possibly Glasgow, career.

p.p.s. Normally I tend to mentally subtract intercept tries from the final score BUT ; Schlong nailed an Italian halting the attack and allowing his team-mates to regroup and press the Italians into rushed passes and then got back in the line to attack the ball and win the turnover, ripped the ball out in a tackle and passed to Jackson to clear- unfortunately his kick was partially blocked but then pops up to claim the ricochet and then swerve round the defenders before running 85 yards to score. Nothing lucky in either of them. Then I was pointing out to Pipetto how McMisser came out the line leaving a gap to make his intercept, " Yes dad but if he'd stayed where he should have been he would have missed the tackle. So he probably figured he had nothing to lose.". Ah the wisdom of youth.

George Carlin wrote:Yes, there is nothing to be gained and everything to be lost from playing guys like Russell, Hogg and Jonny Gray against France. Can't see Cotter doing it - sod's law one of those guys get broken with the Big Show about to start.

Laidlaw should start though.

Could someone be kind enough to provide us non scots with a translation of the a.m. players nicknames?

Tell you what, I bet VC wishes we didn't have this game. If we didn't then every player will have had a run out, we wouldn't have any serious injuries and we would have a confidence boosting dominant victory to keep us going leading up to the world cup.

This risk now is that we get a pumping and pick up injuries!

George Carlin wrote:As promised, it's the battle of the girlfriends with Jimbo's facing off against FES'.

Have we really not beaten France in 9 years? Jesus.

Not sure who has which GF, but can I borrow Eva Green please? Pretty please?

Very happy generally with the win yesterday. It'll give us a great confidence boost, and my first trip to Murrayfield in 9 years was well worth it (got home feeling slightly delusional at 2 am today, I'm glad I split driving duties!).

The last time I went we were on the receiving end of a 40 point pumping by Ireland, courtesy of the Matt Williams era. I seem to be Sean Lamonts lucky mascot though as he always scores when I'm there, last time with his bleach blonde locks.

This said I feel there were a lot of factors that would have been taken advantage of by better teams, such as France. Our execution was definitely not as good as the scoreline would suggest, the amount of knock ons from both sides was pretty poor. Laidlaw is still too slow and ponderous too often, and some of his decisions going forward were questionable imo. I still think Pyrgos is the better option, despite his charged down box kick. Some of the backs were obviously trying to force it, particularly towards the end, with Jackson being a prime culprit, but Horne on occasion being guilty. We also need to send at least one chaser after the ball, what's with this gentle jogging up the paddock to wait until they have a full head of steam??

Our defence has improved so much though. This and the restarts (with one exception, which lead to the Italy try).

I think we should be starting close to our starting lineup again next week, with the exception of Finn Russell (pop him on the bench though), JG and Stuart Hogg. Also if Vernon makes the squad, I'd have him starting with Scott (I think that combination needs some time together to gel a bit more). If we can follow this up by scraping a win in Paris, I'll be happy. Another convincing win (by 7 points +) I'll be both very surprised and delighted. Another loss though could reverse the psychological boost we've had, we need another win and if that means grinding it out in a dire game then I'm all for it.

I watched the Glasgow Canada game yesterday I have to say although it was his first game back etc Strauss did not look particularly special against international opposition. At 28 i wonder if this is going to come to late for him?

whocares wrote:Could someone be kind enough to provide us non scots with a translation of the a.m. players nicknames?

Jimbopip really should be doing this or another of the proponents of =finest gibberish

jimbopip wrote:
My preferred starting Xv

Shrek (Gordon Reid)-Rambo (???)-Angela (Jon Welsh)

Hagrid-(Hamilton?) R Richie Gray

Harley (AKA the ginger tackle monster)-Wilson-Hardie

Samwise (Hidalgoclyne???)

Jackson (Rhubarb)

Scott12-RichieV

Visser-NoMaits - (Maitland) --Schlong (Lamont)

To me Dancer (Russell), Seymour, Henners, (Pyrgos) Hogg, Horne ( furra Linee) should all be protected. Same with Dickinson, Nellie, Ickle Jonny ( J. Gray), Barclay and Claire Baldwin.(Denton)

p.s. Dancer showed yesterday just what a class act he is and probably did irreparable damage to Meatball's (Weir) international, and possibly Glasgow, career.
.................

"Rambo" is Mr Stuart McInally.

Time for me to re-post the Scottish Players Lexicon.

I think Cotter ( and we) really know the bulk of the ist team with few places yet to be settled. So the key question is how does Cotter see this match. I agree with Jimbo above - this game should not include the crucial players we know are in the first team.

As Cotter needs to announce his 31 players by 1 September, is it really possible to see this game as anything other than a means of establishing a pecking order for squad injury cover?

The only alternative to this is that it gives game time to the two players still to feature and whom we believe may be automatically included in the squad for their relative importance, regardless of the fact that they are long term injured - Alex Dunbar and Sean Maitland.

Finest gibberish indeed,TJ. You want to hear me after Glasgow have humped the Luvvies and Bru is at the bar.
Looking back at my team sheet I see I misnamed Batman and Family sized Meatball, mea culpa.

Oh, and Sharlene wins hands down ❤

George Carlin wrote:"Rambo" is Mr Stuart McInally.

Time for me to re-post the Scottish Players Lexicon.

Maybe make it a sticky as well

LondonTiger wrote:

George Carlin wrote:As promised, it's the battle of the girlfriends with Jimbo's facing off against FES'.

Have we really not beaten France in 9 years? Jesus.

Not sure who has which GF, but can I borrow Eva Green please? Pretty please?

There's only one Scottish poster who can afford Eva.

I'm not naming names but let's just say that he is a lawyer who (at present) lives in Stockbridge and if you believe the rumours, fast forwards through the 'servants' parts of Downton Abbey because he just isn't interested in what commoners do in their downstairs cesspits every day.

Prothero wrote:I watched the Glasgow Canada game yesterday I have to say although it was his first game back etc Strauss did not look particularly special against international opposition. At 28 i wonder if this is going to come to late for him?

I thought he carried really well actually and his defence was solid.

I'd like to see:

1 - Dickinson
2 - Ford
3 - Nel
4 - Gray
5 - Gray
6 - Cowan
7 - Barclay
8 - Denton

9 - Laidlaw
10 - Russell
11 - Visser
12 - Scott
13 - Bennett
14 - Seymour
15 - Maitland

16 - Brown
17 - Grant
18 - Welsh
19 - Gilchrist
20 - Wilson
21 - Hidalgo-Clyne
22 - Hogg
23 - Lamont

24 - McInally
25 - Reid
26 - Harley
27 - Strauss
28 - Pyrgos
29 - Horne
30 - Jackson or Weir  ( would be a gamble to only take one fly-half )

The final choice is tough and determines whether we go with 17/14 or 18/13.

Do we take another centre or an extra back-five forward.

31 - Dunbar / Vernon or Hamilton / Hardie / Ashe

reallybored wrote:24 - McInally
25 - Reid
26 - Harley
27 - Strauss
28 - Pyrgos
29 - Horne
30 - Jackson or Weir  ( would be a gamble to only take one fly-half )

The final choice is tough and determines whether we go with 17/14 or 18/13.

Do we take another centre or an extra back-five forward.

31 - Dunbar / Vernon or Hamilton / Hardie / Ashe

Given our luck and past history, all of our centres will be broken within the first 30 minutes.

George Carlin wrote:

reallybored wrote:24 - McInally
25 - Reid
26 - Harley
27 - Strauss
28 - Pyrgos
29 - Horne
30 - Jackson or Weir  ( would be a gamble to only take one fly-half )

The final choice is tough and determines whether we go with 17/14 or 18/13.

Do we take another centre or an extra back-five forward.

31 - Dunbar / Vernon or Hamilton / Hardie / Ashe

Given our luck and past history, all of our centres will be broken within the first 30 minutes.

Just occurred to me that Vernon actually covers both centre and back-row.

Must have been a soothsayer that suggested converting him two seasons ago.

reallybored wrote:I'd like to see:

1 - Dickinson
2 - Ford
3 - Nel
4 - Gray
5 - Gray
6 - Cowan
7 - Barclay
8 - Denton

9 - Laidlaw
10 - Russell
11 - Visser
12 - Scott
13 - Bennett
14 - Seymour
15 - Maitland

16 - Brown
17 - Grant
18 - Welsh
19 - Gilchrist
20 - Wilson
21 - Hidalgo-Clyne
22 - Hogg
23 - Lamont

Who are these people? I don't recognise any of the names here.

reallybored wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

reallybored wrote:24 - McInally
25 - Reid
26 - Harley
27 - Strauss
28 - Pyrgos
29 - Horne
30 - Jackson or Weir  ( would be a gamble to only take one fly-half )

The final choice is tough and determines whether we go with 17/14 or 18/13.

Do we take another centre or an extra back-five forward.

31 - Dunbar / Vernon or Hamilton / Hardie / Ashe

Given our luck and past history, all of our centres will be broken within the first 30 minutes.

Just occurred to me that Vernon actually covers both centre and back-row.

Must have been a soothsayer Tombola that suggested converting him two seasons ago.

Fixed that for you

Does Dickinson have a nickname?

Little Dickie?

The Exfoliator who doesn't?

Clint? The Man With No Name.

Dundee Dicks, surely?

Does WP Nel have one? Because I imagine Nellie the Elephant would be a reasonable shout

WP 'who needs the reverend' Nel

Nailing my stones to the mast, here's my squad (in no particular order in each category):

Props: Dickinson, Grant, Reid, Welsh, Nel
Hookers: Ford, Brown, McInally
Locks: J Gray, R Gray, Gilchrist, Harley
Back-row: Barclay, Hardie, Wilson, Strauss, Denton
Scrum-half: Laidlaw, Pyrgos, Hidalgo-Clyne
Fly hald: Russell, Jackson
Centre: Horne, Vernon, Scott, Bennett
Outside backs: Hogg, Maitland, Visser, Lamont, Seymour

A very credible squad, Bru.
I had thought six props would go, but if the Coo is playing every match at Glasgow he will be match fit and easy to call up.

No Hagrid? probably not. Not Jim looked mobile and aggressive yesterday so you may well be right there.

Yesterday's back row would seem to suggest that Barcs and Claire will go (both have put in top notch performances recently) but 6 still seems to have the Curse of Kellybrows. For me, Cowan did very little when he came on to merit the 6 jersey. Strokes showed that if we want an out and out chopper he can do that. Sadly, he doesn't offer too much more. Wilson is almost the anti-Strokes: he gets around the park and carries well but doesn't defend as solidly. Neither Rob Harley nor Bluto have had a crack at the 6 jersey.
Also you only have five back rows and Bluto is the only regular 6. But I think you've probably called it correctly.

Half backs: in total agreement.

Centres ditto, Dunbar would need to play against France and then the first two matches to be anywhere near match fitness. Can you imagine putting him up against Basteraud just to see if his knee holds up?

The outside backs are interesting; Jackson will be the back up 10 but he can also cover 15 if Maitland is not fit.. This would allow another back row, so Blake or Strokes (please not Cowan).

So, apart from one spot in the back row and Maitland's fitness I think your stones are safe.

p.s. Caz, my Bokkie friend, was on FB today telling his mates in Bokkieland how he has tickets for him and his missus for the quarter final and a hotel booked. Think of the fun we'll have if Scotland win.

How is Maitlands fitness?

Ah,that would be an ecumenical matter.

An ecclesiastical answer

Big Jim Hamilton doesn't look as if he has made the World Cup squad going by his Instagram posts. Travelled back to London and seems to be drowning his sorrows with a few pints!

Majestic83 wrote:Big Jim Hamilton doesn't look as if he has made the World Cup squad going by his Instagram posts. Travelled back to London and seems to be drowning his sorrows with a few pints!

That might just be Big Jim's standard training regime.

Question - if Strauss is named in the squad, is he allowed to play for Glasgow on Saturday?

Why wouldn't he be?

I dunno, world cup squad rules. There are strict guidelines on what those outside of the squad can and cannot do (hence why Australia have flown a 3rd hooker over but he can’t stay in the same hotel or train with them!) so I’m just wondering if there are similar rules for those in the squads.

I suspect not, but just thought I’d ask in case anyone knows.

jimbopip wrote:
p.s. Caz, my Bokkie friend, was on FB today telling his mates in Bokkieland how he has tickets for him and his missus for the quarter final and a hotel booked. Think of the fun we'll have if Scotland win.

Look Jimbo! Correct use of the quote function!

Imagine how pee'd off your pal will be if SA don't even get to go to the world cup!

tigertattie wrote:

jimbopip wrote:
p.s. Caz, my Bokkie friend, was on FB today telling his mates in Bokkieland how he has tickets for him and his missus for the quarter final and a hotel booked. Think of the fun we'll have if Scotland win.

Look Jimbo! Correct use of the quote function!

And???

If South Africa don't make it will another team be invited to join or will our group be cut down to 4 teams. And if another team does join who will it be? I expect it would have to be an African team so either Kenya, Zimbabwe or Madagascar most probably.

If the Boks don't make it can we go all Kiwi and blame our not winning the World Cup on the lack of a competitive group match to help get us up to speed?

Although lets be honest putting out a second string was one of the lowest points in Scottish rugby.

Numbers - are you planning to sabotage the Bok plane? The Beverley Hills Cop approach of putting a banana in their tailpipe?

I am concerned that this thread contains very little, if any, inconsequential bickering which is a marked departure from what these threads should be. Take a look at the England, Ireland and Wales match threads for the sort of thing that we should be trying to emulate.