France 32-21 Scotland: Hosts end Scotland’s hopes of the Six Nations Grand Slam in Paris

Shaun Edwards toasted a classic victory in Paris before turning his attention to securing France’s first Six Nations victory at Twickenham in 18 years.

France ended Scotland’s dreams of their first Grand Slam with a first-quarter siege, leading 19-0 after 19 minutes, by which time both teams had been reduced to 14 men.

Scotland guard Grant Gilchrist and France prop Mohamed Haouas both received red cards, freeing up space on the pitch for the likes of Finn Russell and Huw Jones to roam freely.

But the deficit proved too great, as Scotland’s dreams of a clean sweep turned to dust. Gael Fickou secured the bonus point for France with a try to the death, meaning both teams remain in the title race if Ireland fail.

France defense coach Shaun Edwards told ITV: “It looked like they were attacking on our 22 for a lot of the game, but that’s what you expect from a top-class team.”

“We were very, very happy to walk away, get the bonus point and better for us, Scotland didn’t get a bonus point.”

“We’ll have a beer, because it’s been a tough couple of weeks after losing to Ireland, but then we’ll be planning for England at Twickenham. We haven’t won there since 2005, so it’s a big challenge for us.”

Scotland made the worst possible start to the match when they went down after just three minutes. The French kicked into the corner and number 10 Romain Ntamack scored after a powerful pass from the French forwards.

After six minutes it looked as if any chance Scotland had of winning was gone when Grant Gilchrist was shown a red card. Matt Fagerson made a legal tackle on Anthony Jelonch, but Gilchrist followed with a shoulder to Jelonch’s face.

France made the most of the extra man by going further forward. Ntamack and Antoine Dupont connected, before winger Ethan Dumortier scored in the corner.

Scotland then received a lifeline due to French indiscipline. Haouas, who had been sent off at Murrayfield three years ago for hitting Jamie Ritchie, received his marching orders after twelve minutes.

He dove headfirst into a challenge on Ben White and earned his red card. The even numbers inspired Scotland, but prop Zander Fagerson lost control of the ball as he was about to score.

France scored their third try in 18 minutes when a poor pass from Russell gifted a try to Tomás Ramos, who ran from his own half to score. Before they knew it, Scotland were 19 points down.

But Scotland fought back. Russell sent Jones down the middle of the French midfield to score and the cross landed once more in the second half.

Russell was trying every trick in the book to get his team back in the game and his attacking attitude paid off with just twelve minutes remaining.

Sione Tuipulotu used her power to create space and Ali Price sent the ball to Russell to crash over the line.

Scotland were in the match until the very end, when Fickou crashed out for a bonus point attempt that could prove pivotal if Ireland somehow come up short in the final rounds.

“I’m very proud of the team because we probably did our best rugby of the tournament and we didn’t win,” said Scotland manager Gregor Townsend, whose team beat England and Wales in the early rounds.

‘It’s strange to say that when you’ve had two big wins. Part of our game today was outstanding. A lot of that was based on effort, being one man down and still playing at the speed we played. There was a lot of skill there and there was resilience.

“We went over the line twice in the first half and didn’t score, and we had chances in the second half. Really, we are disappointed.

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