France defeated Scotland 38-15 with a bonus point in front of a sold out crowd at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre in La Rochelle in round two of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations on Saturday afternoon.
Scotland were dealt a blow after just 66 seconds when second-row Hollie Cunningham suffered an injury and was replaced by Adelle Ferrie.
The visitors showed good energy and had quite a bit of possession early on, but it was France who took the lead in the ninth minute through a penalty by full-back Morgane Bourgeois.
That gave them momentum and, three minutes later, stand-off Carla Arbez bagged a converted try and suddenly it was 10-0.
After 17 minutes tighthead prop Elliann Clarke went off for an HIA meaning that Molly Poolman came on for her debut.
Bourgeois then kicked a second penalty to make it 13-0 after 24 minutes.
Clarke then returned to the fray for Scotland and, leading up to half-time, there were some good attacking carries, but France were defending well.
Scotland then got on the scoreboard when France lost the ball in midfield, Lisa Thomson hacked it on and her centre partner Emma Orr won the foot race to score under the posts. Stand-off Helen Nelson converted and it was 13-7 and ‘game on’.
Just after the break a grubber through from Thomson nearly saw Orr in for her second try, but she just knocked it on with the tryline beckoning.
Bourgeois then kicked a third penalty to make it 16-7 after 44 minutes.
Six minutes later, after Scotland had held France up over the line, from a goal line drop out the home scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus slotted a brilliant drop goal to make it 19-7.
A lovely break in the 54th minute by winger Francesca McGhie saw Scotland win a kickable penalty and Nelson slotted it over for 19-10.
With 19 minutes to go France scored a try that just about killed off the game. Teani Feleu, the No.8, was the scorer after a good break by Bourdon Sansus. Bourgeois converted and it was 26-10.
They had their tails up now and soon after back-row Seraphine Okemba scored their third try for 31-10.
The bonus point try came with 13 minutes to go when Bourgeois dived over and converted for 38-10 and it was one way traffic now.
Second-row Becky Boyd then came on for her debut with 12 minutes to go and, with the clock in the red, replacement hooker Elis Martin’s try finished things at 38-15.
Highlights and details can be found here.
Here are five talking points from the game…
Try just before half-time gave hope
Given the way the first half had gone in general, being 13-0 down at that point would not have been too bad. However, it was much better for Scotland when Lisa Thomson kicked on a loose ball and Emma Orr scored a converted try. It meant that it was 13-7 after 40 minutes and the Scots were right in this one.
A fingernail away from a lead after 42 minutes
The try before the interval had given Scotland a spring in their step and they so nearly went ahead two minutes after the restart. A grubber kick through by Thomson so nearly put Orr in centrally for her second try which would have been converted for 14-13, but it was just knocked on by the number 13.
Three tries in six minutes the killer
With 20 minutes to go it was 19-10 and Scotland knew if they scored next then the game was very much still alive. However, France chose then to get their best offloading rugby out and tries in the 61st, 63rd and 67th minute gave them an unassailable lead and the contest had slipped away from the Scots.
Need to turnaround the turnover stats
In round one Scotland conceded six turnovers and won three while here they conceded nine and won just one. The opposition have been good in that are in both games, but the Scots need to be better in that are going forward in terms of getting more support to the ball carrier and looking after the ball better in contact.
Big three games to come
Once the players dust themselves down in the coming days and then come back together at their Oriam training base week commencing April 7 they will be raring to go for the matches with Italy, England and Ireland. Three Test matches between April 13 and 26 will be tough, but two home wins has to be the win and give England a test down south.
Scotland squad that played France: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Hollie Cunningham, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (C), Rachel McLachlan, Jade Konkel. Subs: Elis Martin, Leah Bartlett, Molly Poolman, Adelle Ferrie, Becky Boyd, Alex Stewart, Caity Mattinson, Evie Wills.
The Guinness Women’s Six Nations runs from March 22 to April 26 and, next up, Scotland are at Hive Stadium in round three versus Italy on April 13 – get tickets for the two Scotland remaining home games here.
Emma Orr is pictured scoring her try – thanks to Scottish Rugby
GH Media will be covering Scotland women’s journey right through to Rugby World Cup 2025, bringing insight from within the camp throughout and featuring other parts of the game in this country too – thanks to those already supporting the content, if you or your company would like to get involved please email gary@gh-media.co.uk