With Scotland mathematically still in with a chance of winning the 2025 Guinness Six Nations tournament, Gregor Townsend has decided in his wisdom to select a 6:2 bench split once again. Undoubtedly, Townsend is chewing over the prospect of France picking a 7:1 split like they did against Italy, who were then demolished, and powering to the title.
Scotland last 10 games away from home against France
For the visit to Paris on Saturday night the starting XV is largely unchanged, a welcome form of consistency. Jack Dempsey drops out with a hamstring injury and Matt Fagerson replaces him at number 8, a move we saw at the start of the tournament.
The only real change is in the second row Gregor Brown is rewarded for a decent showing off the bench with the startup lock swapping places with Johnny Gray so far so good with the prospect of another French seven one bench turns end has opted for heft rather than Verve
The problem is that Scotland’s hopes, if you could call them that, rely on a massive victory over France, which means tries, and zip off the bench.
Scotland are not going to power through France no matter how many forwards they pick, while France’s skill on the counter-attack and Scotland’s generosity when isolated in the wider channels means that the 50+ point winning margin required is unlikely to begin with (as is Wales and Italy beating England and Ireland).
It’s a bench picked for safety, which while understandable, is no-one’s idea of a good time for a fixture that should be the highlight for attacking rugby in the tournament.
Jamie Dobie and Stafford McDowall are once again the backs, while the forward replacements feature a number of names yet to get a chance in the tournament in the shape of Edinburgh’s Ben Muncaster and Marshall Sykes.
So it’s safe to say we can put that potential result to one side, hope that at least it’s a good game to watch, and focus on what this tournament will tell us about Scotland in their current state.
Assuming England and Ireland win, Scotland are probably looking at finishing fourth, which seems to be our natural position when England are either half-decent or gifted an undeserved Calcutta Cup win. Looking from the start of the tournament, the most telling result is probably the capitulation to Ireland as it represents the continuation of the status quo. In our heads we think we are a top 2/3 team, mathematically we even have a chance to be come the end of Saturday night. But results like that one in the second round when we still had some hope point to a very soft underbelly and a lack of real winning progress under Gregor Townsend.
France: Ramos, Penaud, Fickou, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey, Ntamack, Lucu; Gros, Mauvaka, Atonio, Flament, Guillard, Cros, Boudehent, Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: Marchand, Baille, Aldegheri, Auradou, Meafou, Jegou, Jelonch, Le Garrec.
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Duhan Van der Merwe; Finn Russell (co-captain), Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Gregor Brown, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge (co-captain), Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Jonny Gray, Marshall Sykes, Ben Muncaster, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall.