'Scotland bum cheek away from converting' in Paris

Scotland were "a bum cheek away from converting" as they concluded their Six Nations campaign with a defeat by France, says head coach Gregor Townsend.

The Scots went down 35-16 in Paris and end the tournament in fourth place while their hosts clinched the title at England's expense.

Scotland made nine visits to the French 22 and forced their opponents to attempt over 200 tackles but scored only a solitary try through Darcy Graham.

Townsend rued his team's luck, with Tom Jordan's score late in the first half ruled out as a prone Blair Kinghorn had been hauled into touch a phase earlier.

Shortly after the break, Finn Russell's off-load went to ground and Louis Bielle-Biarrey finished an 80-metre French breakaway.

"We asked the players to deliver a performance of effort and physicality and they did that," Townsend told ITV. "Our forwards played outstanding rugby at times, really fronted up.

"We didn't get the breaks. We had the bad luck before half-time [with a disallowed try] and a mistake and they scored just after half-time.

"We were a bum cheek away from converting in the first half when Blair was just in touch. You need to have patience and accuracy and that was a little bit missing."

Among the bad luck was the decision to only show a yellow card to hooker Peato Mauvaka for a headbutt on Ben White when the score was 10-0.

Russell slotted the subsequent penalty, but Townsend queried whether there should also have been a red card when it was reviewed in the bunker.

"I don't know how it wasn't raised to a red card," he said. "It was after the whistle. So, if there was head contact and that was intentional, it shouldn't be anything to do with the force that was involved.

"But whether that has had anything to do with the final result, who knows, because France deserved the win, deserve to be champions, they're a quality side."

Scotland opened their campaign with a staccato home win over Italy before being comprehensively beaten by Ireland a week later.

They dominated England for long spells at Twickenham but poor finishing and wayward goalkicking denied them a fifth straight Calcutta Cup triumph.

Last weekend, they raced into a 20-point lead against Wales but wound up winning by a single score after losing their way in the second half.

Asked if Scotland deserved to place higher in the table, Townsend replied: "No, if we don't win when we have a lot of the game, that's where we are going to finish.

"It is a very tough competition. Teams can't play well every game and no-one won a Grand Slam.

"We are a quality side. It just didn't go our way this year."

What did the pundits make of it?

Former Scotland full-back Chris Paterson: "We played with some fantastic endeavour and were quite sharp on the ball, but we couldn't really stress them.

"Scotland gave themselves the best opportunity by keeping the ball alive, playing as quickly as possible. It wasn't always accurate but it's the right way to go about it."

Former Scotland prop Peter Wright: "I was pretty proud of the way Scotland played. They had a go, moved the ball, played with width. Kinghorn had one of his best games. Van der Merwe and Graham looked dangerous.

"Russell will get criticism, but I thought he played pretty well and gave Scotland a chance. He varied the game enough to try and hurt the French."

Former Scotland sevens international Colin Gregor: "A three-point deficit at half-time was beyond where I thought Scotland would be. They went toe-to-toe but, as feared, France's quality on the bench made an impact."

Former Scotland back row Johnnie Beattie: "The cruel nature of our sport - if Finn Russell kicks his goals at Twickenham, and this game goes down to the wire for a championship, that changes the context."

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'Scotland bum cheek away from converting' in Paris

What did the pundits make of it?

Have your say

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