Enlarge imageBy Alan Lorimer
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Scotland stunned Six Nations favourites France 20-16 at Murrayfield on Sunday with their best performance for years.
Winger Sean Lamont scored two tries against an error-strewn French side who went over twice in the second half but only threatened late on.
France came into the tournament not only expecting to win it but firmly eyeing another grand slam. Scotland had managed only one win, against Italy, in the last two years but they were fired up from the start, particularly up front.
What made their first home win over the French in 10 years even more satisfying was that it was achieved with a brand of positive rugby rarely seen at the often half-empty Murrayfield in recent seasons.
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It was a massive team effort by the Scots who came out on top in the forward battle giving their backs a chance to stretch the French defence on numerous occasions.
For France this was a desperately disappointing display with handling errors, poor decision-making and faulty goal kicking all contributing to a performance well below the standard set in the autumn test series when they won four out of four.
"We knew were capable of playing rugby like that," lock Scott Murray told the BBC.
"Our mental attitude has totally changed. We went on the pitch not worrying about things and determined to enjoy it."
Scotland surged to a deserved 13-3 halftime lead with Lamont’s 11th-minute try and eight kicked points by Chris Paterson. Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde’s injury-time penalty was the only reply for the misfiring visitors.
Last year in Paris, Scotland led 6-0 at halftime before being hauled back to lose 16-9.
PUSHED ON
This time, with their confidence lifted by new coach Frank Hadden, they pushed on after the break with an extraordinary second try for Lamont after the Scottish forwards drove the highly-rated French pack for 30 metres in a rolling maul.
Flanker Julien Bonnaire finally crossed the try line for France in the 50th minute and replacement hooker Sebastien Bruno got a second in the 77th.
Crucially, however, Elissalde missed both conversions which meant France needed a third try, which they were unable to find.
The teams’ last Murrayfield meeting was a humiliating 31-0 home defeat in 2004 and Scotland’s last Edinburgh win over the French came in 1996, although they did win in Paris in 1999.
Next week Scotland travel to Cardiff to face holders Wales, who lost 47-13 to England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Scotland captain Jason White said much of the credit for Sunday’s success should go to Hadden, who took over after Australian Matt Williams was sacked last April.
"The difference is you have guys happy in the squad to play for each other," White said.
"Frank has taken the pressure off and told us to go out and enjoy it."
MASSIVE TEST
Hadden, a Scot, played down his own influence in his first Six Nations game: "There are a lot of guys involved in making Scottish rugby better and I am just one of them," he said.
"You can’t over-estimate how important it is to enjoy your work.
"We have a higher level of expectation, we have a fair bit of self-belief and we are definitely going down (to Cardiff) with a bit more confidence."
France coach Bernard Laporte told journalists: "We made too many mistakes, lost too many balls.
"Of course we missed (injured centre) Yannick Jauzion but I’m not going to pin the defeat on Ludovic Valbon. I’m not going to blame him, or to blame Frederic Michalak or Nicolas Brusque.
"We lost this match because Scotland defended very well and overall played a very good game. There were a lot of little things that contributed to our defeat but Scotland had lots of possession and were in control for much of the game.
"Maybe we’ll make some changes before the Ireland match but they will not be punitive changes."
Ireland beat Italy 26-16 in Saturday’s other match.
