SCOTLAND knew that to stand a chance of pulling off a surprise against France they would have to be on top form right from kick-off. They were not, and as a result suffered a third consecutive defeat in the TikTok Six Nations.

Admittedly, the French were so good in the first half that even a Scottish team at their best would not have been able to withstand them. They wrapped up the try bonus just before the break, and in addition to playing some inventive attacking rugby they outmuscled Scotland in defence. They fell flat in the second half - a failing for which the home team merit some of the credit - but then they could afford to do so.

“We were the better team after the break, and it shows we can compete if we are on it from minute one,” Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm insisted. “We showed in the second half we could have won that game if we had turned up from minute one. 

“I said at half-time we had to nil them in the second half, and whatever was to happen we would win the second half - and we did that. We turned our set-piece around, which was good after a rough first half, but credit to France: some of the moments of brilliance in the first half were well done.”

After getting  the better of an early kicking duel, France took the lead after ten minutes thanks to a loose Scottish clearance out of defence that went straight to Laure Sansus. The scrum-half chipped over the onrushing defence in midfield, gathered on the second bounce, and ran in unopposed to open the scoring. Player of the match Jessy Tremouliere added the first of four successful conversions.

Helen Nelson opened Scotland’s account with a penalty from in front of the posts, but that was as good as it got for the home team before the break, and before long Tremouliere stretched her side’s lead when she spotted a gap and powered her way through it to touch down. 

Scotland thought they had snuffed out the threat of a third try minutes before half-time when they turned over possession deep inside their own 22. But French captain Gaelle Hermet got a hand to Jenny Maxwell’s attempted box kick from the base of a maul, and Sansus gathered the loose ball a couple of metres out then dotted down for her second try, to which Tremoulier again added two points.

That was bad enough, but in the last play of the half Hermet got her team’s bonus-point try, finishing off after back-row colleagues Julie Annery and Emmeline Gros had carried well. 

Scotland almost hit back in the opening minute of the second half thanks to a charge-down, but Leah Bartlett’s knock-on ended their hopes of a quick score. That was the closest either side came to adding to their tally in the third quarter, although it did end with a promising break by Chloe Rollie deep into French territory. Otherwise, the only memorable event in those 20 minutes was the arrival off the bench of Sarah Law for her 50th cap. She replaced centre Emma Orr, but went to her customary position of stand-off in a back-division reshuffle.

Scotland continued to impose pressure on the French defence as the game entered its last quarter-hour, and openside forward Annery was sent to the sin bin for a team offence. A quick tap then saw play spread first to the far right then back to the left, where Rollie finished off despite the best efforts of three defenders to stop her touching down. Nelson’s conversion attempt went wide.

Rollie’s try injected new confidence into her team, but they could not add to their score in what remained of the contest. Nor could France, whose best chance to get a fifth try was thwarted minutes from time when Lisa Thomson held full-back Emilie Boulard up over the line when the full-back went alone rather than using a two-woman overlap. 

Scorers: Scotland: Try: Rollie. Pen: Nelson.

France: Tries: Sansus 2, Tremouliere, Hermet. Cons: Tremouliere 4.

Yellow card: France: J Annery 67.

Scotland: C Rollie; R Lloyd, E Orr (S Law 51), L Maxwell, M Gaffney; H Nelson (M Smith 79), J Maxwell (C Mattinson 55); L Bartlett (M Wright 58), L Skeldon (J Rettie 79), C Belisle (K Dougan 79), L McMillan (L O’Donnell 80), S Bonar, R Malcolm (captain), E Gallagher, J Konkel (R McLachlan 55).

France: E Boulard; M Castel (G Vernier 74), M Ménager, C Jacquet, M Llorens; J Trémoulière (M Peyronnet 65), L Sansus (A Chambon 41); A Deshaye (C Lindelauf 52), L Touyé (C Domain 74), A Khalfaoui (C Joyeux 52), C Ferer, M Fall (S N’Diaye 52), J Annery, G Hermet (captain, R Menager 61)), E Gros. 

Referee: C Munarini (Italy).