Evans Opens Up French But Brave Scotland Defeated

Scotland produced a passionate display in Paris and scored a thrilling try through Thom Evans but France ended up winning 22-13.The amount of commitment and vigour served up by Scotland was hugely impressive, but a sizeable amount of uncharacteristic errors prevented the visitors from putting further points on the scoreboard.Charged up and fully focused, Scotland headed into the game eager to make amends for the previously off-key showing against Wales.A promising start almost led to an early try when Thom Evans chased through a kick into the dead-ball area after a French handling mistake.But the referee judged he had not grounded the ball, nevertheless Scotland had started the game with real purpose.Standing firm, France refused any Scotland attacks to break through the gain-line, but the away side matched their physicality with some full-blooded challenges, the most eye-catching hit delivered by wing Simon Danielli.After recording an impressive 88% territory inside the opening 12 minutes, Scotland escaped a scare when Lionel Beauxis scuffed a penalty attempt. But France eventually did take the lead when Kelly Brown – on for the injured Jim Hamilton – was harshly judged to have not rolled away from a tackle.Beauxis made amends for his earlier miss with a well-taken penalty, but Scotland drew level five minutes before half-time through a perfect penalty from Phil Godman.Beauxis missed a penalty directly after the re-start before John Barclay was penalised for a high tackle and the France stand-off nudged over an effort to hand the home side a 6-3 lead at half-time.After the break, France cranked up the pressure and it translated into a controversial try when Fulgence Ouedraogo crossed the whitewash, although the decisive pass appeared to have gone forward.Godman – assuming kicking duties in the absence of Chris Paterson – reduced the deficit with another well-taken penalty to keep Scotland within touching distance of the World Cup semi-finalists.But Beauxis scored a long-range penalty to hand France a 10-point advantage and followed that up with another efficient kick to keep the scoreboard ticking over.Urged on by an inspirational display from prop Allan Jacobsen, Scotland surged forward in search of a try and it arrived courtesy of Thom Evans following a slick pass from Godman.Replacement Paterson added the extras with just over 10 minutes of the contest remaining to shred the nerves of the Parisian crowd.After a frustrating opening hour of play littered with errors, Scotland were suddenly back in the game, but any hopes of a comeback were quickly cut short with another Beauxis penalty.Nevertheless the signs were encouraging which bodes well ahead of Scotland’s next RBS 6 Nations match against Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday 28 February, kick off 3pm – for tickets call 0871 200 1511.ScotlandHugo Southwell (Edinburgh); Simon Danielli (Ulster, replaced by Chris Paterson), Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors, replaced by Nick De Luca), Thom Evans (Glasgow Warriors); Phil Godman (Edinburgh), Mike Blair (captain, Edinburgh, replaced by Chris Cusiter); Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh, replaced by Moray Low), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Jason White (Sale), Jim Hamilton (Edinburgh, replaced by Kelly Brown), Alasdair Strokosch (Glouceter, Simon Taylor (Stade Francais), John Barclay (Glasgow). ReplacementsDougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Moray Low (Glasgow), Kelly Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Gray (Northampton Saints), Chris Cusiter (Perpignan), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Nick De Luca.