|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Slow start Error-prone France labors to beat Scotland
PARIS (Reuters) -- France scored the only try of a scrappy Six Nations match to beat Scotland 16-6 at the Stade de France on Sunday. The French struggled with their ball-handling throughout but earned their victory with a try from wing Philippe Bernat-Salles early in the second half when the Scots had been reduced to 14 men after flanker Martin Leslie was sin-binned. "We didn't play well with the ball in our hands and made far too many mistakes," said French scrumhalf Fabien Galthie. "It was a difficult match for us." "We're very disappointed because we thought we'd played France very well and felt we created opportunities of our own, particularly in the first half," said Scotland coach Ian McGeechan. "We'd been very competitive in all the areas we wanted to be but unfortunately it didn't show on the scoreboard." Title holder and favorite England beat Wales 44-15 in Cardiff and Ireland defeated Italy 41-22 in Rome on Saturday in the other two games of the first Six Nations weekend. The Scots, who won 36-22 in their last outing in Paris on their way to the title two years ago, were in control early on despite losing flyhalf Gregor Townsend after four minutes with a knee injury. Logan penalties Winger Kenny Logan landed two penalties to give the visiting side a deserved 6-3 lead. Bernat-Salles went over the line wide on the right but was denied a try by the video referee -- new in this year's championship -- as Logan stopped the winger grounding the ball.
Unable to break through the Scottish defense France pulled level through flyhalf Christophe Lamaison who landed his second penalty just before the interval. France looked more focused after the break and Bernat-Salles caught Scotland cold. Stade Francais centre Franck Comba made up for a poor start by cutting through the defense and the Biarritz wing wriggled past a couple of challenges to touch down. Lamaison converted to make it 13-6. "We had one casual minute and ultimately that was the difference between the two teams," said McGeechan. In the dying minutes the Scots threw everything at the French but could not find a way through as their handling let them down at crucial moments. A superb break by French fullback Xavier Garbajosa with two minutes to go was stopped one metre from the line by Scotland fullback Chris Paterson. Lamaison added a third penalty in injury time to seal a 10-point win. It was France's seventh victory in their last 10 meetings with the Scots. France: 15-Xavier Garbajosa; 14-Philippe Bernat-Salles, 13-Richard Dourthe (20-Gerald Merceon 71), 12-Franck Comba, 11- David Bory; 10-Christophe Lamaison, 9-Fabien Galthi; 8- Christophe Juillet, 7-Olivier Magne, 6-Christophe Moni (19-Serge Betsen 50), 5-Fabien Pelous (captain), 4-David Auradou (18-Abdel Benazzi 50), 3-Pieter De Villiers, 2-Raphael Ibanez, 1-Sylvain Marconnet (17-Christian Califano 50). Scotland: 15-Chris Paterson; 14-Cameron Murray, 13-James McLaren (22-Alan Bulloch 59), 12-John Leslie, 11-Kenny Logan; 10-Gregor Townsend (21-Duncan Hodge 4), 9-Andy Nicol (captain) (20-Brian redpath 67); 8-Jon Petrie (19-Jason White 73), 7-Budge Pountney, 6-Martin Leslie, 5-Richard Metcalfe (18-Stuart Grimes 21), 4-Scott Murray, 3-Mattie Stewart (17-Gordon McIllwham 52), 2-Gordon Bulloch (16-Robert Russell 67), 1-Tom Smith. Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
