Paris: With the power came the glory. A week after withstanding a second-half shellacking against Ireland, Scotland were blown away in a brutally confrontational second half by a pack which exposed their vulnerability to sheer muscle.
Nowhere was the disparity more starkly exposed than at the scrum, where Scotland were comprehensively outmuscled. A France side for whom the result was everything demonstrated that the bludgeon is sometimes superior to the rapier.
More Rugby Union Videos
Valiant Scotland fall short in France
Scotland fell just short of a first win in France since 1999 despite outscoring France with two tries to one in Paris.
Vern Cotter's Scotland are always resilient and grafted bravely, especially at the breakdown - where they won several turnovers - but they eventually wilted in the face of France's physicality and expert offloading. Such was the battering to which Scotland were subjected that they lost several key players.
Acting captain John Barclay and openside John Hardie were both huge losses, but it was the removal of their chief strategist, Greig Laidlaw, after 23 minutes that hurt the visitors when France ramped up the pressure in the last quarter. Without Laidlaw, Scotland lacked their usual shape and discipline: where they rallied late against Ireland, against France they barely got their hands on the ball in the final countdown, and if they did they invariably tried a risky offload which ceded possession.
"We're not going to be satisfied with a loss when we were so close and probably could have won," said Cotter, the Scotland coach. "The game was a bit of a stop-start affair. Our first try was well constructed but we seemed to lose shape because the French applied pressure and were very physical. But to come away with one point is better than no points."
Scotland had started brightly and spurned two chances to score in the first three minutes, Sean Maitland cutting inside when he had the legs on Scott Spedding, then Huw Jones dropped an attempted interception that should have led to a try. But it was France who opened the scoring after five minutes when Josh Strauss killed the ball at a ruck and Camille Lopez kicked the penalty.
Scotland were, however, good value for their opening try 10 minutes later. Their forwards smashed their way to the French line, and referee Jaco Peyper had raised his hand for a penalty. With a shot to nothing, Laidlaw spread it right, Jones's pass just escaping Virimi Vakatawa's attempted interception, giving Stuart Hogg space to scuttle over in the corner. Laidlaw's conversion hit the crossbar, his first miss of the tournament.
Scotland's lead was not to last long, France immediately regaining the momentum with another Lopez penalty to take a one-point lead. They should have pulled further ahead later when he and replacement scrum-half Ali Price indulged in some handbags and Lopez was awarded a penalty in front of the posts only to hit the upright.
![Try time: Gael Fickou of France dives over to score his team's opening try.](/web/20170301134805im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/b/a/i/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gubaey.png/1486954802813.jpg)
On the half-hour France put daylight between them and their visitors when Gael Fickou crashed between Hogg and Maitland for a try that was converted from the touchline by Lopez for an eight-point lead. Yet Scotland under Cotter have a bloody-mindedness and over the next five minutes they drew two penalties, Russell kicking both to make it 13-11 at half-time.
They took the initiative early in the second half when Finn Russell's outrageous mid-tackle pass out the back of his hand put Tommy Seymour into space. The wing kicked ahead and then barged fullback Spedding out the way to regather the ball before feeding the onrushing Tim Swinson, who crashed over under the posts. The French crowd tried to whistle the stadium down, and their players protested, but the score stood, although Russell's conversion went under the crossbar after the ball fell off its tee.
Another Lopez penalty put the side back on level terms, with Spedding and Hogg both wide with penalties from their own halves shortly afterwards. But as the match entered the final quarter, France began to tighten the tourniquet. No 8 Louis Picamoles and the giant second row Sebastien Vahaamahina were immense at the breakdown and with ball in hand, and as the match entered its end game, unlike at Murrayfield last week, it was Scotland who blinked first.
With nine minutes to go France won a penalty after Russell threw a crazy offload in his own half and Jones was penalised for holding on. Lopez gratefully kicked that, and once Scotland had gone behind and were playing catch-up rugby, they never looked as if they possessed the composure to go through the phases and wait for the gaps to appear. Instead a further breakdown penalty with three minutes remaining allowed Lopez to stretch France's lead to six points. Scotland had one last hurrah when Hogg beat two men and looked as if he might go all the way, only for Yoann Huget to step in and rip the ball from his grasp.
And so, a ninth consecutive Six Nations defeat for Scotland in Paris. Plus ca change, as they say in these parts.
The Daily Telegraph, London