Phenomenal France try stuns Scotland

Alan Dymock

It’s certainly not the first time that a France try stuns Scotland – and the Scottish crowd. But in their first Rugby World Cup warm-up match, les Bleus and their young upstarts created a try of real beauty.

Baptiste Couilloud was the man who finished it off, but it all began with caught ball being worked to France debutants Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Émilien Gailleton.

What ensued was superb stuff.

Bielle-Biarrey worked it to Gailleton, who offloaded back to him when he was being knocked into touch. He then burned off Huw Jones before working it to Matthieu Jalibert. With the simple two-on-one, Jalibert gave it to nine Couilloud and we had it: a stunner.

It was the first of three tries from France in the first half, with Bielle-Biarrey getting one for himself and then Cameron Woki finishing off the half with a five-pointer. By the time the half-time whistle went, it was 21-3 to the visitors – and they looked comfortable for it.

Game of two halves after France try stuns Scotland

There was a really experimental feel to the French outfit. With the young debutants, and some player fighting to make the wider squad, it was hard to know what to expect from France. But in the first half, they brought a real verve.

Scotland looked like they had left a lot in the changing room in the first 40.

Thankfully for Scotland, they came out roaring at the start of the second half, with Darcy Graham scoring a poacher’s try off a crossfield kick – somehow winning the race to touch down under incredible pressure.

And despite the TMO Bunker upgrading a Zander Fagerson yellow card to a red, Scotland got the bit between heir teeth. Pierre Schoeman and Dave Cherry got tries, while skipper Finn Russell finished with two penalties and two conversions. Scotland won the contest 25-21.

The two teams meet again next week, in Saint-Etienne.

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