Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Six Nations clash between France and Scotland, including predictions, team news and their head-to-head record.
Paris plays host to a fascinating Six Nations showdown on Sunday as France welcome Scotland to the Stade de France for the 100th match between the two sides.
The defending champions are looking to bounce back from their first defeat since July 2021, but face some flying Scotsmen who have taken maximum points from their two outings so far.
Match preview
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Not since falling to Australia 19 months ago had France been forced to deal with the taste of defeat, until they ran into Ireland last time out.
A pulsating contest in Dublin saw the world’s top-two ranked sides face off in the Six Nations for the first time ever, and it lived up to the billing too.
Ultimately, though, it was France who were left licking their wounds as their record 14-match winning run came to an end, with Garry Ringrose‘s late try sealing a 32-19 victory for the home side.
The scoreline – Ireland’s biggest win over France in the Five or Six Nations since 1975 – did not accurately reflect how close the match was for the most part, though, and Fabien Galthie will still believe that back-to-back titles are possible, even if that fate is now ultimately in the hands of Ireland.
Indeed, the fate is also in the hands of a so-far perfect Scottish side, with Sunday’s meeting with Gregor Townsend‘s men now a must-win for France.
A World Cup on home turf later this year is undoubtedly the priority for France in 2023, but after their best-ever year in 2022 they will be desperate to avoid falling to a second defeat of the Six Nations campaign, which could halt much of the momentum they have built up over the past 18 months.
It could be argued that that momentum has already been halted, with their defeat to Ireland being preceded by a less-than-convincing victory over Italy in Rome on the opening matchday.
As a result, last year’s Grand Slam winners come into this match down in fourth in the standings, with this tricky contest followed by a visit to Twickenham next up for Les Bleus.
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Scotland will make the trip to Paris full of confidence having finally backed up an opening-week victory with a second win on the bounce at the start of a Six Nations campaign.
It is the first time they have won their opening two games in the Six Nations era, and the first time they have done so since 1996 stretching back to the Five Nations.
Townsend’s men have done it in style too, securing a famous victory over bitter rivals England at Twickenham in their opening game before inflicting their biggest-ever win over Wales last time out, surpassing a record which had stood since 1924.
As such, Scotland arrive in France with genuine ambitions of winning the tournament for the first time since the 1999 Five Nations, and victory over their hosts would firmly underline their credentials ahead of a potential title decider against Ireland in week four.
Scotland are currently level with the world’s top-ranked side on a maximum of 10 points from a possible 10 at the summit of the Six Nations table, boasting the most tries in the tournament so far.
Townsend’s men have been ruthless in attack so far this year, averaging 4.1 points per 22 entry against England and four points per entry against Wales – comfortably the two highest such figures of any side in the 2023 Six Nations, with Ireland against Wales the only other team to have averaged more than three in game.
Whether Sunday’s visitors can maintain that remarkable conversion rate remains to be seen, but if they are able to then their status as pre-tournament dark horses would prove to be richly deserved.
Many of the opposition coaches were wary of Scotland heading into this year’s tournament, and should they win in Paris then the rest of the world will also be forced to sit up and take notice ahead of the World Cup later this year.
France Six Nations form:
Scotland Six Nations form:
Team News
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Despite the defeat in Dublin, Galthie has made just one change to his starting XV for this match, with Mohamed Haouas replacing Uini Atonio.
Atonio is suspended for the match following his dangerous tackle in the Ireland loss, meaning that Haouas will come in at tighthead for his first involvement in this year’s Six Nations.
The rest of the pack remains unchanged, while Antoine Dupont will once again captain the side from scrum-half with Romain Ntamack outside him.
Scotland are able to welcome Hamish Watson back into the fold after he missed the first two games with a head injury.
The flanker was named player of the tournament in 2021 and comes straight back into the starting lineup for this one, with Luke Crosbie dropping out of the squad altogether.
That is the only change for the visitors, which means that Stuart Hogg, who was forced off early on his 100th international appearance against Wales, is passed fit to start at full-back.
Star man Finn Russell, who plies his club trade in Paris until his impending move to Bath, became the first Scottish player to register three try assists in a Six Nations game against Wales, and now boasts more try assists and line-break assists than any other Tier 1 player since the beginning of 2022.
Sam Skinner and Ali Price come into the matchday squad on the bench, with Chris Harris and George Horne dropping out of the 23.
France starting lineup:
15. Thomas Ramos, 14. Damian Penaud, 13. Gael Fickou, 12. Yoram Moefana, 11. Ethan Dumortier, 10. Romain Ntamack, 9. Antoine Dupont (c); 1. Cyril Baille, 2. Julien Marchand, 3. Mohamed Haouas, 4. Thibaud Flament, 5. Paul Willemse, 6. Anthony Jelonch, 7. Charles Ollivon, 8. Gregory Alldritt
Replacements: 16. Gaetan Barlot, 17. Reda Wardi, 18. Sipili Falatea, 19. Romain Taofifenua, 20. Francois Cros, 21. Sekou Macalou, 22. Baptiste Couilloud, 23. Matthieu Jalibert
Scotland starting lineup:
15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Kyle Steyn, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben White, 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Richie Gray, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Jamie Ritchie (c), 7. Hamish Watson, 8. Matt Fagerson
Replacements: 16. Fraser Brown, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. WP Nel, 19. Jonny Gray, 20. Sam Skinner, 21. Jack Dempsey, 22. Ali Price, 23. Blair Kinghorn
Head To Head
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Scotland famously beat France in Paris on their most recent visit, running out 27-23 victors in 2021 for their first away win over Les Bleus since 1999.
Indeed, that was only their second-ever win at the stadium, with France triumphing on the 12 other such occasions, and the all-time Six Nations record is similarly one-sided with France boasting 18 wins to Scotland’s five.
However, four of those five Scottish victories have come in the last seven years and, while France won 36-17 at Murrayfield last year, they have not beaten Scotland in back-to-back matches since winning a ninth successive edition of this fixture in 2015.
This will be the 100th meeting between the two sides, with France winning 57 and Scotland winning 39 of the previous 99, alongside three draws.
We say: France 24-21 Scotland
This is such a difficult game to call. Scotland are a very real threat and can go to France knowing that it would not be a monumental shock if they came home with a win, despite only triumphing twice at this stadium before.
France have not been entirely convincing so far this year with their narrow win over Italy and their defeat to Ireland, although the result of that latter game risks masking what was a good performance from Galthie’s men.
It is a contest that could go either way, but given that it is a must-win one for France, we are backing them to make an immediate return to winning ways and to end Scotland’s Grand Slam hopes in the process – but only just.
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