Rampant Scotland not only won the Final Nations Championship on Saturday with their win over France (thanks to the Welsh win in London on Sunday), but gave Jim Telfer a magnificent testimonial in his final Five Nations game as coach.
Traditionally April in Paris favours the French, but the spring air and firm ground served Scottish ambition better, inspiring a superb brand of attacking rugby.
The try-scoring Gregor Townsend was the magical talisman of an extraordinary Scottish side in which Alan Tait and Martin Leslie plundered two tries apiece before both sets of defences finally got a grip. Even the normally non-committal Telfer, such an influence on the Scottish style of rugby down the years, was moved to say: "It was unbelievable, the best I have ever seen Scotland play."
The Scottish cause was helped indirectly by a second-minute knee injury to Thomas Castaignede, which threatens the France play-maker's World Cup. He was replaced by the more predictable David Aucagne. Subsequently Scottish defenders found it easier to anticipate the moves of the French backs and whenever the hosts did lose possession, the wings Kenny Logan and Cameron Murray tended to find the ball nestling in their hands within seconds.
Bizarrely, Scotland were at their most shambolic in the opening minutes when a series of errors in cover defence allowed Franck Comba to put Emile Ntamack away for a splendid try on the right. However, by the time Juillet, the number eight, peeled off a scrum on the Scottish line to score a second try, the Scots had already taken their hosts apart with a blistering fusillade of three converted tries within a five-minute period.
Shrewd work by Townsend and John Leslie created enough space for Martin Leslie and Tait in turn to thunder through on the right and when Townsend darted over for a third try, it was clear that something special was unfolding. Two more tries in five minutes by Tait and Martin Leslie were immediately followed by a superb 31st-minute try by Christophe Dominici. The Scots victory was, however, a foregone conclusion.
Scorers: France: Tries: Ntamack, Juillet, Dominici. Conversions: Aucagne 2. Penalty: Aucagne. Scotland: Tries: M Leslie 2, Tait 2, Townsend. Conversions: Logan 4. Penalty: Logan.
FRANCE: Ntamack (Toulouse); Garbajosa (Toulouse), Giordani (Dax), Comba (Stade Francais), Dominici (Stade Francais); Castaignede (Castres); Aucagne, Pau, 2min), Carbonneau (Brive; Laussucq, 40); Califano (Toulouse; Marconnet, Stade Francais), Ibanez (Perpignan, capt), Tournaire (Toulouse), Brouzet (Begles-Bordeaux), Cleda (Pau; Auradou, Stade Francais, 56), Labit (Toulouse, Benetton, Agen, 56), Castel (Beziers), Juillet (Perpignan).
SCOTLAND: Metcalfe (Glasgow); C Murray (Edinburgh), Tait (Edinburgh), J Leslie (Glasgow), Logan (Wasps); Townsend (Brive), Armstrong (Newcastle, capt), Hilton (Bath; Graham, Newcastle, 66), Bulloch (Glasgow), Burnell (London Scottish), S Murray (Bedford; Reed, Wasps, 76), Grimes (Glasgow), Pountney (Northampton; Walton, Newcastle, 70), M Leslie (Edinburgh), Reid (Leeds).
Referee: C Thomas (Wales)
