The French XV played their cards perfectly against Scotland on Sunday, keeping their French Flair in the pocket for the opener of this years 6 Nations.
A scrum which had a steam roller effect on the lack lustered Scottish front five, time and time again the French pushed, shoved, and mastered their opposition with relative ease, even though Nigel Owens the match referee kept his cards in his pocket when the Scottish front were infringing at nearly every scrum. Hands on the deck, standing upright, not taking the hit, we saw it all but the French front five never buckled and went from strength to strength, in the end the opposition were glad to hear the final whistle
A double by Mathieu Bastareaud plus a couple of penalties and a conversion from Morgan Parra saw France clear for most of the game, although the Scots did have their moments, but a water tight defence always held, and the tackles were made stopping the Scots short of that hallowed ground, their only consolation were three penalties from the boot of Mr 100% Paterson.
Our Montpellerians performed well, Fulgence Ouedraogo, tackled like a demon and was all over the park, but made one or two small mistakes sometimes being a little eager to get the ball in the tackle area , thus giving away a couple of silly penalties. Francois Trin-Duc defended well and gave the pass for the first French try, a solid performance and should see him selected against Ireland next Saturday.
A very workmanship, first performance by the French especially the front row, and should hold them in good stead for the match next Saturday at the Stade de France against Ireland.

Steve Whittell.