Edinburgh: A last-gap Jean-Marc Doussain penalty earned a woeful France a narrow 19-17 away win over Scotland that keeps Les Bleus on course for their first Six Nations title since 2010 yesterday.
Doussain converted a routine penalty in the 78th minute to set up an exciting finale against Ireland at the Stade de France next Saturday.
Ireland lead the table with six points, ahead of France on points difference before today’s clash between England and Wales.
The hosts, who have not beaten Les Bleus since a 20-16 victory in the championship in 2006, scored two tries through Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour with Greig Laidlaw adding the extras while Duncan Weir slotted home a penalty.
France, who had won 14 of their last 15 meetings with Scotland, had one Yoann Huget try to show for themselves with Maxime Machenaud’s boot providing 11 points, to which Doussain added the winning three.
“We had a good start but some little mistakes cost us some points,” Huget told French TV channel France 2.
“But we worked hard to come back into the game and we showed character.”
“It was not easy. Maybe we were lacking confidence after the Wales game,” said fullback Brice Dulin.
Philippe Saint-Andre’s team, who were looking to bounce back from a 27-6 demolition by Wales, were terrible in the lineouts, unusually weak at the scrum and their paper-thin defence did little to help them.
Scotland were penalised for collapsing the scrum and Machenaud slotted home to give France a good start then benefited from the hosts’ lack of discipline to add another penalty minutes later.
