Scotland stat from Six Nations loss to France shows dip in efficiency

The ruthless efficiency that characterised Scotland’s wins over England and Wales went missing in Paris and the trick for Gregor Townsend and his coaching team is to ensure it is rediscovered by the time Ireland arrive at Murrayfield on March 12.

Pierre Schoeman takes the game to France in Paris.

The 32-21 loss to France has wounded Scotland’s Six Nations title chances but not fatally and there remains a confidence within the squad despite their wretched record against the Irish in recent years. You have to go back to Vern Cotter’s time as head coach for the last victory over opponents who have taken maximum points from their first three games in this season’s championship and generally lived up to their billing as the No 1-ranked side in the world. But the fact that Scotland remain in contention three-fifths of the way through is a sign of progress, according to Pierre Schoeman.

“Confidence will be very high,” said the Scotland prop. “There is still loads to play for in this Six Nations whereas in the past that has maybe not been the case for us at this stage in the tournament. So, it is back on the horse – keep the confidence and the positivity and work on those little things which we need to do better and don’t go chasing fools’ gold. If we can make the same number of opportunities and finish a few more off, it might be a better result for us.”

The general feeling within the Scotland camp was that they were guilty of squandering a handful of try-scoring opportunities against France, in contrast to their strike rate in the previous two games. Scotland spent just one minute 44 seconds of the Twickenham opener in England’s 22 yet managed to conjure up four tries in that time. England, by contrast, were inside the Scotland 22 for five minutes and 32 seconds but still lost 29-23. It was similar against Wales. Scotland plundered five tries in the record 35-7 win at Murrayfield while spending five minutes and 49 seconds in the Welsh 22. The visitors had six minutes and 45 seconds in the Scottish 22 but had only one measly try to show for it. But against France, Scotland were in the hosts’ 22 for six minutes 43 seconds. They scored three tries but it should have been more. France scored four during their five minutes and 39 seconds inside Scotland’s 22.

“There were about four or five tries we left out there and if we convert just two of those chances it would change the momentum of the game,” said Schoeman. “We spoke at half-time about how there were two or three chances we could have converted from inside their 22 which would have made the second half different, but up against the second best team in the world according to the rankings, we still believed we could win it. The fight was excellent and we put ourselves in a position to win the game – if we had just converted those opportunities. That’s why we are gutted – we didn’t take our chances – but overall the feeling is positive. There was good things there we can build on for the Ireland match, but a lot to improve, especially converting inside their 22.”