France full of admiration for Scotland but Fabien Galthie delivers harsh 'truth' of Six Nations matter

A rampant Scotland side prevailed 50-40 in one of the best games of rugby ever staged at Murrayfield. Thirteen tries were scored in total and France recovered from trailing 47-14 at one stage to secure a bonus point.

It means that France and Scotland both have 16 points going into next Saturday’s final round of fixtures, but the French are top by virtue of a better points difference - +79 over +21. It means that if the French defeat England and score four tries, they will be champions unless Scotland were to somehow overturn the 58-point deficit.

Galthie expects France to regroup after their humbling in Edinburgh. He was left in awe of Scotland stand-off Finn Russell and the centre pairing of Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones were singled out for their efforts.

“We are disappointed because we lost,” said Galthie. “We are disappointed because we had the ambition to win here. But on the scenario of the match, the [Scottish] victory is coherent and logical. It is normal for the Scots to win this match. They played a great match. They took us in the basics of the rugby.

“They did very well. They did very well with their pair of 12-13, their animation. It was a chain of events. We took penalties, then we took points, then we took yellow cards, then we took tests again. At the end of the day, it's hard to stop haemorrhaging. It's true that we couldn't find a solution early enough.”

France ‘state the truth’

France will have the benefit of watching Scotland play Ireland in Dublin at 2.10pm before their own match against the English at Stade de France in Paris at 8pm. Galthie backed his players to bounce back.

“We'll have the time,” added Galthie. “We have a week. In the heat of the moment, we're thinking about the next step. But it's clear that we're still first. We have the possibility to win the competition. That's the truth.

“The players went to get it. We had to get the offensive bonus. It was going to score four tries. When the gap was big, we were at two tries. The players went to get six tries. We went from two to six tries. Especially with the very good return of the finishers. They gave energy to the team. They allowed the team to score four tries.

“We are disappointed. We wanted to do much better. We were very ambitious. We understand the disappointment of our fans. We share it. But we're in a race to win the competition. We have a game in Paris. Saturday night at the Stade de France. It's our daily life. We know we have to go through this.”