France look set for a difficult Six Nations campaign after labouring to a 15-8 home win against Scotland on Saturday.
Philippe Saint-Andre’s side, playing in unfamiliar red jerseys, scored all their points through Camille Lopez’s boot while Scotland, a more formidable team since former Clermont coach Vern Cotter took over last year, had Dougie Fife to thank for a superb first-half try.
Greig Laidlaw scored one penalty for the visitors, who could have beaten France in Paris for the first time since 1999 had they handled the ball better.
“It’s a win but we should have done better,” Saint-Andre said.
“We spent a lot of time in the Scottish half, but we did not show enough variation in our play and Scotland played with a lot of spirit. They are a good team. They have good footballers and a great coach, so I think the future is bright for them.”
Scrum-half Rory Kockott was handed his first France start in the absence of the injured Sebastian Tillous-Borde, but he was replaced by Morgan Parra before the hour after an unconvincing display.
Lopez put France in front with an early penalty, but they wasted their possession with useless kicking and Laidlaw levelled with a penalty.
But with more ball, the hosts, who were a poor fourth in the Six Nations last year, were more dangerous and Lopez slotted a second penalty after Scotland were sanctioned for offside.
Stuart Hogg danced past two tacklers to come within centimetres of a try but was stopped by Scott Spedding. Scotland kept pressing, but France tightened up and forced Finn Russell to a missed drop-goal attempt.
Lopez’s third penalty from as many attempts after another offside gave France a six-point lead, but Scotland finally found some space to cut the deficit to one point on the stroke of half-time.
Hogg’s run down the left put the French defence off balance and Scotland played it wide onto the opposite side, where Teddy Thomas was outnumbered and could not prevent Fife from diving over.
Another Lopez penalty gave France some breathing space early in the second half, but the fly-half’s boot was all they could rely on.
Scottish forward Johnnie Beattie picked up a yellow card for pulling down a moving maul just after the hour.
Yoann Huget then made progress towards the line and escaped Hogg’s tackle but knocked the ball on as he was about to hand France a try.
Scotland continued to play with ambition to the end but were let down by poor handling.
“We had chances, but we didn’t take them,” Russell said.
“It was a good try to score, just before the break, and if we could have come out and backed it up we could have won, but we made too many mistakes.”
France are second in the table after one round. They trail Ireland, who beat Italy 26-3, on points difference.
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