6N: France v Scotland: Scotland player ratings
Yesterday at 09:58 PM
A VALIANT effort in an environment more hostile than King's Landings to a Lannister, but once again the end result is death by a thousand mistakes.
15. Blair Kinghorn – 8
Memories abounded of Ally Hogg charging down the flank, as a wonder-try got disallowed by an inch. Gutting stuff. The languid strides and line-breaking pace had the fired-up French chasing back, kicked accurately apart from one cute one which went out on the full. [Thomas Ramos – 8]
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14. Darcy Graham – 8
Up against that skinny wee French runt, in the direct tete-a-tete, Darcy was the better of the two tonight. Bielle-Biarrey is a scavenger, Graham is a predator. He made his try tonight by coming in off the wing and looking for space, twice. [Damien Penaud – 7]
13. Huw Jones – 7
Little injections of pace created chances, he wasn't able to make scoreboard-changing contributions but looked a nuisance and his defensive game is excellent now. You think back to his part in the 61-21 doing at Twickenham years ago to where he is now, he's improved so much. Should be – HAS to be – in the Lions squad. He outshone Fickou, and I think Fickou's amazing. [Gael Fickou – 6]
12. Tom Jordan – 6
Nearly got on the end of a highlight reel, took it to the French with typical thunder and variation of his skills, but found himself on the wrong side of the ref a few times. Gone from Super6 to Test rugby in five years and doesn't look out of place. [Yoram Moefana – 8]
11. Duhan van der Merwe – 6
Was clearly targeted as a danger man and was effectively shut down by the French, he has improved though in his recycling and passing, and it still takes at least two men to drag him down even if he's going sideways. Slapping the face off of Damien Penaud as he charged out of his own goal-area showed he's still the biggest, baddest dog, on the wing, and still smarter than Penaud (who’s just a French Tim Visser, his defence is awful). [Louis Bielle-Biarrey – 7]
10. Finn Russell – 5
Was conducting the orchestra nicely, but when he did screw up, it cost points. Two blocked kicks in the lead up to the Bialle-Biarrey try, missed touch with a penaty, and everyone has basics they need to hit if they want a good rating. [Romain Ntamack – 7]
9. Ben White – 6
Thought he was kicking poorly to begin with, then he did a great one which led to a penalty, which he decided to quickly tap – very much a rash decision – but then got headbutted so may have to be awarded an assist. Passing game was better than kicking, which is usually a huge asset. [Maxime Lucu – 8]
1. Pierre Schoeman – 7
A solid shift from the big man. Noticeable in his defensive work, made a couple of strong carries, and gave no quarter in the scrum. [Jean-Baptiste Gros – 6/Cyril Baille – 7]
2. Dave Cherry – 6
Good arrows, in the first half he and his front-row bros put in a helluva defensive shift, and he made a couple of good carries, but he gave away too many penalties. [Peato Mauvaka – 6/Julien Marchand – 6]
3. Zander Fagerson – 7
The schmucks who voted for Tadhg Furlong to be starting B&I Lion in a recent poll really need to stop being so myopic and casual. Another 80 minutes for the ‘Iron’ Fagerson, scrums stayed steady, he carried like a Trojan on Viagra, and slams himself about like a back-row. [Uini Atonio – 7/Dorian Aldegheri – 6]
4. Gregor Brown – 7
I'd maybe underappreciated his impact off the bench in previous games. He reminds me a bit of Tim Swinson in that he's not the tallest lock in the land, but he's mobile and gets torn in. Not convinced lock is the most natural of fits, but has proven, with this and his shift against the Boks that he'll square-go the biggest of packs. [Thibaud Flament – 7]
5. Grant Gilchrist – 6
Attacking set-pieces went well but he did give away a couple penalties, and French maul was chewing up metres on occasions. [Mickael Gulliard – 8/Hugo Auradou – 6]
6. Jamie Ritchie – 6.5
He gets the half-point because he did lots of the things we like best about Jamie Ritchie, some of the things we don't like, and then there was a lovely offload. I want to see more of him as a link in attack, he used to do it when The Mish was bouncing off people. Gave away too many penalties for a full 7. [Francois Cros – 8]
7. Rory Darge – 7
Couple of strong carries in lead up to Graham try, a frequent visitor to the breakdown to slow down French ball, and keeps himself remarkably squeaky clean on the penalty count. [Paul Boudehent – 7/Oscar Jegou – 7]
8. Matt Fagerson – 7
Much more like it, or what I expect ‘it’ to be, having found himself in and out of the team and switching positions. Aggressive in contact, got the better of one of the world's premier No 8s and slowed their ball down at breakdown. [Greogry Alldritt – 6/Anthony Jelonch – 7]
Replacements:
16. Ewan Ashman – 5
Everything he does seems to be 50/50 just now. Darts could go either way; will carry hard then attempt a silly offload; puts a shift in, but will concede a penalty.
17. Rory Sutherland – 6
Was getting stuck in in defence, pointed out to ref a head-on-head contact which they didn't care about.
18. Will Hurd – n/a
Didn't play
19. Ewan Johnson – 5
Hardly touched the ball. Did one maul fine.
20. Marshall Sykes – 6
He's a big lump of a boy, sometimes a penalty magnet, but did his set-piece well and got stuck in.
21. Ben Muncaster – 5
He's going to be class – him and Freddy Douglas are the latest in the back-row production line – but mainly a rearguard effort here.
22. Jamie Dobie – 5
Did fine, some crisp passing from the base and a half-snipe, but only had 14 minutes.
23. Stafford McDowall – 5
I'm sure someone will have been watching every move he made and complain he deserves a 6. One good carry but game was on a ‘run-down’ period at that stage with the title seemingly destined for Paris.
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