Match Preview: France v Scotland

Finn Russell on what he expects in Paris on Friday:

“If we manage to do what we are planning and get to second, it’s the highest finish we have had in the Six Nations.

“France are trying to win the tournament so it’s a massive game for both teams.

“It should hopefully be a great game with both teams chasing bonus points and trying to win by certain margins. So it could be a good one to watch for neutral fans.

“I do enjoy that sort of game, but the majority of people who play and watch rugby will enjoy a game like that.

“We will have the Welsh fans behind us and all the fans back here in Scotland. It should be a great game.”

“We’re hugely excited about this challenge. We have the potential to finish second and that is the motivation for us this week.”
Stuart Hogg

Stuart Hogg on their final Guinness Six Nations match:

“The big thing we’ve talked about this week, is this is the perfect opportunity for us to be ourselves.

“We need to defend the way we want and can defend by having trust in our own ability and our teammates.

“We’re top of the charts [in defence], but that counts for nothing unless we don’t back it up this weekend.

“We’re going to come up against some of the best players in world rugby and if you allow them time and space they can rip anyone apart, but that doesn’t change the way we want to defend.

“We’re hugely excited about this challenge. We have the potential to finish second and that is the motivation for us this week.”

Scotland Assistant Coach, Steve Tandy on the challenge of facing France:

“It’s a huge game. It’s one of the biggest test matches away from home.

“We’ve had some great away wins in Wales and England and this is right up there against a team who are trying to win the tournament.

“We know the challenge at stake, but obviously if we get a win and perform we could potentially finish second, which would be our highest finish [in the Six Nations].

“There is all to play for. We know the physical challenge France are going to pose and they’ve got some outstanding players, but we’re confident in our own ability and being able to put a performance in on Friday night.”

Scotland Team

France Team

Match facts

• Scotland have won three of their last five games against France in the Six Nations (L2) after losing 15 of the previous 16 (W1); however, those three wins all came at home.

• Scotland have won their last three away games in the Championship, their best run in the Five or Six Nations since 1983-84 (W3); they’ve not won more consecutive away games since a five game run from 1925 to 1927.

• France have won their last nine home Test matches, their best run since 2002-2004 (W9); they’ve not won 10 in a row at home since 1986-1989 – the 10^thvictory in that run coming against Scotland.

• France have scored the opening try of the game in their last 10 consecutive Six Nations games, last failing to open the try-scoring in a Championship match against Ireland in 2019.

• Should France score 4+ tries and win by 21+ points they would claim the 2021 Six Nations, they’ve managed to do this twice against Scotland before in the Championship, in 2003 and 2007.

• Scotland’s tackle success rate of 93% is the best of any side in the 2021 Six Nations, France have the second best rate (89%) yet have still missed more than twice as many tackles as Scotland (France 79 misses, Scotland 36).

• Antoine Dupont has been directly involved in seven tries in this year’s Six Nations (3 tries, 4 assists), more than any other player; Frédéric Michalak is the only Frenchman to be involved in more tries in a Six Nations campaign (8 – 1 try, 7 assists in 2006).

• Four players have beaten 15+ defenders in the Six Nations this year, each of them could feature in this match – Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe (29) and Stuart Hogg (17) and France duo Brice Dulin (17) and Teddy Thomas (15); van der Merwe’s tally is just one short of the record for a single Six Nations campaign (Brian O’Driscoll – 30 in 2000).

Permutations for Scotland

Watch and follow the game

Join us on Friday in the Scottish Rugby Match Centre, supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland.

We’ll be joined by Scotland hooker Fraser Brown and Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm, who will offer exclusive insight before, during and after the match.

As always we’ll bring you the big moments as they happen, along with the latest from inside the Scotland camp.

Join us for the match build-up on Friday at scottishrugby.org.

France v Scotland kicks off off at 8pm GMT and you can watch the game live on BBC One in the UK.