Scotland suffer familiar Six Nations feeling on chaotic and colourful title night in Paris

Scotland went down with all guns blazing in Paris but the night belonged to France.

They defeated Gregor Townsend’s side with a bonus point and realised their ambition of being crowned Six Nations champions for only the second time since 2011.

The 35-16 victory meant they finished one point clear of England at the top of the standings, with Ireland another point further back in third place. The Stade de France erupted in colour and chaos to mark the occasion and the celebrations continued long into the Parisian night. It’s hard to think of a more vibrant venue than this and although the visitors did their level best to spoil the party it was always going to be a gargantuan task.

Finn Russell and Scotland tried to land a win. | Getty Images

For Scotland it’s fourth place again, the fifth time in six years they have occupied that position at the end of the championship. It was Townsend’s eight campaign in charge and the glass ceiling refuses to crack. Scotland have never finished higher than third since the tournament was expanded to include Italy 25 years ago.

Townsend is contracted until April next year and could have one more tilt at the Six Nations but this campaign will go down as one of missed opportunities. The one-point defeat by England at Twickenham will haunt them for a long time but they couldn’t be accused of leaving anything out there against France.

They played with huge courage and ambition and were on the wrong end of a couple of contentious decisions, most notably the failure to send off France hooker Peato Mauvaka for a blatant head-butt on Ben White, the Scottish scrum-half. They scored a try through Darcy Graham and had another by Tom Jordan belatedly disallowed as Finn Russell lined up the conversion just before the break.

If it had been awarded, Scotland would have gone in at the break ahead. As it was, France pulled away in the second half and the records tumbled.

France’s four tries meant they beat England’s record of 29 in a single Six Nations, set in 2001. Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored one of them to become the first player to score eight in a Six Nations season. And Thomas Ramos moved clear of Frederic Michalak to become France’s record points scorer.

The Stade de France was aflame pre-match, a riot of noise and colour, and the 9pm kick-off cranked up the expectation levels to almost unbearable levels. In the eyes of their supporters, this was a game the home side simply had to win and they were doing their damndest to make sure it happened.

France celebrate their win over Scotland. | Getty Images

They willed their team forward from the off and took a third-minute lead through a Ramos penalty after Scotland were punished for not releasing. The crowd loved it but there was an even bigger roar when Antoine Dupont’s face flashed up on the big screen. The injured captain had made it to the stadium, despite ruptured knee ligaments.

Worse to follow for the Scots when Jamie Ritchie was yellow-carded for dragging down a maul as France threatened. It looked harsh and France scored their first try when the Edinburgh flanker was in the bin. Yoram Moefana was the scorer, with centre partner Gael Fickou providing the assist. White tap-tackled Moefana but the Frenchman’s momentum carried him over the line.

The Scotland scrum-half was then on the receiving end of a double dunt. Ramos pushed him to the ground before Mauvaka launched himself at White. It looked like head on head and the France hooker was lucky to be shown only yellow. Russell got Scotland’s first points on the board with the subsequent penalty and White dusted himself down and was at the other end of the field seconds later to deny Maxime Lucu a certain try.

The Scots had been roused but the home side kept the scoreboard ticking over. Ramos put over another penalty to make it 10-3 and in doing so moved past Frederic Michalak to become France’s record points scorer.

If Scotland needed more fuel to stoke their anger they got it when the bunker review deemed that Mauvaka’s offence was worthy only of yellow. A try for the underdogs quickly followed, Russell passing inside to Graham who wriggled through for his 31st Test try. Russell’s conversion reduced France’s lead to 13-10 and the hosts had been rocked. Mauvaka returned to the fray but they were again reduced to 14 men when prop Jean-Baptiste Gros was shown a yellow card as a result of the multiple offences by the home team. Russell’s penalty drew Scotland level but not for long - Ramos got his third to edge France 16-13 up.

But it was Scotland who ended the half on top and were desperately unlucky not to be ahead at the interval. A brilliant break by Blair Kinghorn took them deep into French territory. The ball was recycled and, in a move similar to the first Scottish try, Russell played in Jordan to pinball his way over the line. The Scotland co-captain was lining up the conversion when ref Carley told him the try had been disallowed for Kinghorn straying into touch in the build-up.

If that was a blow for the Scots, worse was to follow at the start of the second half. Russell lost the ball and Romain Ntamack burst clear before feeding Bielle-Biarrey for his eighth try of this Six Nations, a new record. Ramos’ conversion made it 23-13 and Scotland’s bright end to the first half now seemed a distant memory.

The arrival of Le Bomb Squad soon after can’t have been a pleasant sight for the Scottish pack but they continued to take the game to France and rumbled up to the opposition line. Carley penalised the French and Russell kicked the points to bring the Scots back within a score at 23-16.

The gap was soon widened again, and this time there was no way back. Two tries in six minutes secured a bonus point for France and put them into a 30-16 lead that was all but uncatchable with 18 minutes remaining.

Ramos and Moefana did the damage with a try apiece, the latter bagging his second of the evening. Ramos converted his own score but couldn’t land the next one, proving himself to be fallible after all.