Scotland 29-18 France: Stuart Hogg, Duncan Taylor and Tim Visser cross the line for Scotland in the thrilling win in front of their home support - Ruck

Scotland 29-18 France: Stuart Hogg, Duncan Taylor and Tim Visser cross the line for Scotland in the thrilling win in front of their home support

  • Scotland ended a 10-year winless streak against France o record back-to-back Six Nations victories for the first time in three years
  • The hosts recovered from Guilhem Guirado’s early try to lead 18-12 at the break
  • But Stuart Hogg’s brilliant overhead pass saw Tim Visser touch down to secure the victory
England have won the Six Nations title for the first time since 2011 after Scotland pulled off a 29-18 victory over France at Murrayfield today.

Scotland’s triumph means that no team can now catch Eddie Jones’ men in the 2016 Six Nations table.

Tries from Stuart Hogg and Duncan Taylor gave them back-to-back triumphs in the competition for the first time since 2013.

Captain Greig Laidlaw on his 50th cap was once again on form with the boot as the hosts held off a powerful display by Les Blues.

France needed a victory to keep their battle with England alive and they scored early through their captain Guilhem Guirado.

After the Scots had struck back with fine tries from Hogg and Taylor, France responded right before the break through Gael Fickou.

Tim Visser had the crowd on their feet after the interval after touching  down from man of the match Hogg’s spectacular overhead pass and another penalty from Laidlaw helped Cotter’s men overcome France to end their ten-year losing streak against Les Bleus.


MATCH ACTION

Scotland got off to the worst possible start as Les Bleus captain Guilhem Guirado charged over after just four minutes for the game’s opening try after an excellent offload from winger Virimi Vakatawa, who made the initial break.

Francois Trinh-Duc’s weak conversion attempt faded past the posts while the hosts opening went from bad to worse as they lost fly-half Finn Russell, who went off with a head injury.

The French number 10 then wasted a chance to put France further from the tee before Laidlaw reduced the deficit to two points with a penalty of his own after 15 minutes, 3-5.

France was then penalized at the scrum and the Scotland Captain slotted the penalty with ease to give the hosts the lead for the first time from the tee.

The crowd at Murrayfield was then on their feet to celebrate as Stuart Hogg finished off a high-tempo team try. Replacement fly-half Peter Horne pulled the strings impeccably for the home side as well as making a half-break himself before the fullback used his fast footwork to dart over. Laidlaw though missed the extras, 11-5.

Five minutes later Scotland was in for try number two. Duncan Taylor took a penalty inside his own half before leaving the French defence clutching at thin air as he went all the way to score in the corner. Laidlaw, this time, added the extras to give the host a 13-point lead.

France though hit back with the final points of the half. Les Bleus kept their cool, went through the phases and eventually the pressure told with Gael Fickou finding the gap and bundling over. Maxime Machenaud then took over the kicking duties and slotted the extra two, 18-12.

Hogg dissected the posts from inside his own half to extend the Scots’ before Machenaud knocked over a simple penalty to once again reduce the deficit to six points.

The French scrum-half then sailed another kick through the posts to decrease the gap to just three points with a quarter of the game still to play.

Scotland then got on the front foot and eventually saw another superb team move finished off this time by Tim Visser to go clear. The score after 67 minutes saw the hosts advantage extended to eight points after Laidlaw dragged his conversion attempt wide, 26-18.

Captain Laidlaw then completed the scoring with another penalty.


Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Lamont

France: 15 Scott Spedding,14 Virimi Vakatawa, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Wesley Fofana, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Alexandre Flanquart, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Vincent Pelo, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Jules Plisson, Maxime Médard


Date: Sunday, March 13
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)