Scots delight as they sink France in Paris

By Mark Stevens
26/3/21

The smiles said it all for Stuart Hogg and his Exeter Chiefs team-mate Sam Skinner, but the Scotland captain has urged his side to use their dramatic 27-23 win over France in the Guinness Six Nations Championship as a building block for the future, after finishing their 2021 Championship on a high.

With the clock deep into the red and the visitors down a man following the dismissal of fly-half Finn Russell, Gregor Townsend’s side launched one final offensive against Les Bleus.

Pushing right, then left, the tactic in the end paid dividends as winger Duhan van der Merwe scored a last-gasp try in the left-hand corner to secure Scotland a first away win at the State de France for 22 years.

It’s the second away duck they have broken in this Championship, after also winning at Twickenham for the first time since 1983 in Round 1.

Scotland finish with three wins from five games and, though frustrated with their two home defeats to Wales and Ireland, Hogg is delighted with the progress they have made.

“Results at times at times have been outstanding, the performance at times have been very good, but we’re probably going to be kicking ourselves in the foot with some of the losses,” he said.

“We’re not going to get carried away, we’re going to enjoy this moment and start building towards something memorable.I’m the captain of a very, very proud nation and we’ll continue to work hard.”

Scotland finish fourth in the table, level on points with Ireland and just one behind second-placed France.

And head coach Gregor Townsend labelled it one of their “best-ever seasons” and believes they can grow ahead of next year’s Championship.

“I’m so proud of the team,” he said.“They came here with a bit of adversity with not our full squad, an injury to one of our starters on Wednesday, a yellow card, a red card, we had to come back against a very good side, but they showed courage, effort, togetherness, and skill to win. A great end to a really promising season for us.

“Even though we finished fourth, it feels like one of our best-ever seasons with the victories we’ve had this year and the performances tonight especially.

“That’s now been the last two years we’ve been competitive in every game. We’ve grown a lot this year, grown a lot this campaign, and we’ve got to continue to grow over the next few years.”