Super Scots shock Frogs
5 Feb 2006
Scotland pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Six Nations history when they beat France 20-16 at Murrayfield on Sunday.
The Scot’s victory, their first against France at Murrayfield in 10 years, has thrown the Six Nations wide open.
Scottish supporters must have been worried after two minutes of the match when the French claimed possession from kick-off and took the ball through a dozen phases. However, that was as good as it got for the Frogs as the Scots seized control.
The home side blew a golden try-scoring opportunity in the fifth minute when they failed to take advantage of a two-man overlap out wide, but their pressure was converted into points soon after when left wing Sean Lamont brushed off a poor tackle from French No 10 Frederic Michalak to score under the posts. The try was made possible by the impressive Scottish pack, who drove the ball up to their opponent’s tryline and sucked in a number of French defenders.
Chris Paterson nailed the conversion and added two penalties to give Scotland a surprise 13-0 lead after half an hour.
The French were their own worst enemies in the first half, knocking on several times and kicking when the ball should have been kept in hand. Without superstar Yannick Jauzion in midfield, and Michalak struggling with a knee injury, the Tricolore backs were largely ineffective.
The Frogs finally put points on the board a minute before half-time, when Michalak succeeded with a penalty from right in front to make it 13-3.
Scotland has earned a reputation as a team that plays its heart out for 30 minutes, before capitulating in the second half. However, the home side struck first after the break when Lemont was driven over for his second try, following a 20m drive by the fowards.
At 20-3, the French looked finished, but No 8 Julien Bonnaire gave the visitors hope when he scored in the left-hand corner to round off a rare attack sparked by a Florian Fritz break through the Scottish midfield.
Paterson then missed a sitter of a penalty, before French scrumhalf Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (who claimed the kicking duties when Michalak eventually hobbled off the field) added another three points to make it 20-11.
With three minutes to go, the French grabbed their second try when replacement Sebastian Bruno went over in the corner. However, Elissalde missed the conversion from the left-hand touchline and at 20-16 they needed to score again.
The Scots soon worked their way back into the French 22, and when Jonathan Kaplan blew the final whistle the celebrations began.
Scorers:
Scotland – Tries: Sean Lamont (2). Conversions: Chris Paterson (2). Penalties: Paterson (2).
France – Tries: Julien Bonnaire, Sebastian Bruno. Penalties: Frederic Michalak, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.
34 Comments
5 Feb 2006, 17:19 pm
C’mon u beauts
5 Feb 2006, 17:55 pm
While a ruck or maul is taking place (including a ruck or maul which continues after a line-out has ended) a player is off-side if he:- does not join the ruck or maul but fails to retire behind the off-side line without delay
does this law still exist or is it now been ignored.
5 Feb 2006, 17:59 pm
dunno
I put money on france to win the 6N, this doesnt look good for them…
Im still happy tho coz it means france isnt really that good away from home
5 Feb 2006, 18:00 pm
i suspect a mighty comeback in the 2nd half! France to anialate the scots
5 Feb 2006, 18:04 pm
Eish !!
5 Feb 2006, 18:42 pm
wohhooooooo
5 Feb 2006, 18:47 pm
why is it that the french can play champagne rugby and then they dish up this **** against Scotland????
5 Feb 2006, 18:50 pm
bloody hell, the scots played like terriers, the french were terrible tho, hard to remember when last a french team knocked on so much.
the scots were awesome tho and they kept it up for 80 minutes. Good to see a competitive scottish side again.
5 Feb 2006, 19:02 pm
Typical French side, they iether turn up and put 14 points on you in 10 minutes or knock the ball on left right and centre.
Scots were great, well done
5 Feb 2006, 19:08 pm
Good performance by the Scots – after yesterday thought that even Italy would beat them this year. But much better ref no bad calls.
5 Feb 2006, 19:21 pm
What an unbelievable game from the Jocks. Excellent ballhandling and skills. The frogs were awful and i have not seen this amount of unforced errors in a long time. The French flankers were superb, but thats where it ends.
5 Feb 2006, 19:38 pm
Sad, very sad
5 Feb 2006, 19:39 pm
Andrew Henderson at 12 looks good. The sort of back that forwards love – doesn’t run off on his own without support, makes the ball available, keeps it alive and doesn’t do the fall-forward -and-knock-it-on thing that so many backs have mastered. Brave in defence too.
Don’t be fooled. France will still win the World Cup.
5 Feb 2006, 19:43 pm
Ths Scots did the best Maul I have seen in years. Drove the French from the 22, to score a try! Thats gotta be worth something.Thoroughly enjoyed the match, great rugby.
5 Feb 2006, 19:51 pm
Sprooser
France to win the world cup?
Anybody ever heard of the All Blacks?
5 Feb 2006, 19:53 pm
Oh and the BOKS!
5 Feb 2006, 20:32 pm
A bigger shock is getting past the various **** pieces of software to log in.
Thanks Ig, anyway. Can’t work out why the frogs could not find another gear.
Murrayfield mysteries again!
5 Feb 2006, 21:15 pm
Sorry, my bad…
Congrats to the Scotts,
U think France will still win the 6N? Or is it now englands competition…
6 Feb 2006, 04:00 am
SUPERB SCOTLAND.
You have only 15 000 senior players and often have to practice in snow and freezing cold, yet you can beat countries with vastly better training conditions and twenty times as many players.
6 Feb 2006, 07:01 am
English sharks yeah we have all heard of the all blacks, have you see what they do when it comes to world cups lol?
6 Feb 2006, 07:02 am
If that booldy Englishman didn’t rob the Italians it would’ve been a wonderful weekend!
6 Feb 2006, 07:39 am
O’ flower of Scotland!
That was awesome, after years of narrow defeats and outright hidingsit was fantastic to see Scotland take their chances.
6 Feb 2006, 08:27 am
Beautiful Bravehearts.
he blue blood, another team with a blue jersey persihed under the whistle of kaplan…..
man i cannot wait for this one……
6 Feb 2006, 08:27 am
Beautiful Bravehearts.
he blue blood, another team with a blue jersey perished under the whistle of kaplan…..
man i cannot wait for this one……
6 Feb 2006, 08:31 am
sorry ig, can that first post of mine.
6 Feb 2006, 08:37 am
biggest upset at Murrayfield since Scotland flogged the Boks.
6 Feb 2006, 08:55 am
This is why Scotland will always be my 6 nations team
The moments are far from each other- but when it happen- it is great
SCOTLAND THE BRAVE!!!!!!
PS
They are the only team in Blue that I support.
PA the “ginge” must be happy?
6 Feb 2006, 09:06 am
you know it OO. scottish blood in the family and all.
6 Feb 2006, 09:07 am
problem i have though, is that there is french blood on my side, and scottish blood on the other side….
but i support the scots before the frenchies.
6 Feb 2006, 11:23 am
Awesome game, unbelievable result probably the best since we last beat England at Murrayfield in 2000. Have to say I didn’t see it coming at all but full credit to Frank Hadden and the boys for 100% committment and belief. We haven’t the players to be a powerhouse but we can sure mix it with the best on our day. France disappointed me. They didn’t look at all focused on the job and made too many basic errors, perhaps they underestimated the challenge…. Jauzion missed, Valbon looked poor in his no.12 shirt, Michalak unfit and uninspiring. Our pushover try in the 2nd half showed that you don’t just need size to bully an opposing pack, great technique will get you there as well!
Now bring on the English!
6 Feb 2006, 12:25 pm
Its a proud day for us Scots all over the world!! We were written off by most of the rugby world, but then produced what is arguably the best game of rugby seen at Murrayfield for many a long year! The FROGS had a full-strength pack, but Scotland were awesome and who will ever forget the maul that led to Sean Lamonts try! The French panicked under Scottish pressure and in the end the scoreline flattered the FROGS. BONNIE SCOTLAND you have done us all proud & can’t wait to don my kilt and sing the national anthem when you are in South Africa! The ENGLISH are kakking themselves!!
6 Feb 2006, 17:23 pm
Viva the Famous Grouse.
7 Feb 2006, 13:25 pm
Haggis ? what is haggis ?
Sheep stomach stuffed with oats and barley !
Scotland the Brave indeed ! you’d have to be to eat anything thats smeels that bad when cooking !!!
7 Feb 2006, 14:22 pm
What was that morph! For someone who disnae ken aboot haggis, sure knows a few ingredients of this fine meal. You have obviously cooked and ate some of this dish, in order to have smelt it, so in short you must be a closet-Scotsman!
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