Following France’s 35-16 victory over Scotland in the final round of the Six Nations, here are our five takeaways from the Stade de France.
The top line
It was France’s title to lose tonight at the Stade de France, but this was anything but a procession for Les Bleus as they were made to fight all the way by Scotland.
Tries from Yoram Moefana (2), Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos, plus 15 points from the boot of the Toulouse full-back eventually steered them to victory, but they had to do it the hard way.
Things very nearly derailed early on. Peato Mauvaka copped a cheap yellow card – which could easily have been upgraded to a red – and he was later joined on the naughty step by Jean-Baptiste Gros as well, but this is a different France team to what we’ve seen in the past. This is a resilient Les Bleus.
Le Bomb Squad were again simply barbaric upon their entry in the second-half and helped Fabien Galthie’s side run away with the game in the end.
Scotland deserves some flowers for their performance and should have got more than the one try from Darcy Graham, but on the whole, this was France’s night to party after years of Six Nations hurt at the hands of Ireland.
Perfect ending
This was one of the great Six Nations games, and it was a fitting way to end one of the greatest Six Nations Championships.
The 2025 Six Nations was one of the most gripping editions in recent years, particularly with the final day conundrum where three teams could win the title and a team with four wins from five ended up finishing third, but this game encapsulated everything that made this one one of the greatest editions of the greatest Championship in Test rugby.
Bring on 2026!
The best team in the world?
Intensity, joue, brute strength, flamboyant running, expressive attacks, scrummaging, smash-and-bash; France were utterly ruthless when it mattered most.
France have grown incredibly well this Championship, notably since the Twickenham embarrassment and the introduction of Le Bomb Squad, but they have channelled the very thing that has made their club sides so brilliant in the past few years. Up front, they turned into a La Rochelle en Bleu, with the sheer power of Gregory Alldritt, Gros and Francois Cros amongst others dominating the collisions in the tight.
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Le Bomb Squad also came on and made an immediate impact. The arrival of Anthony Jelonch, Cyril Baille, Dorian Aldegheri and Emmanuel Meafou shifted the momentum of the game back towards France at a pivotal time when Scotland were looking like spoiling the Parisian party
In the backs, they also perfectly merged the Champagne style of Toulouse and the pace of Bordeaux. Maxime Lucu – drafted in for the injured Antoine Dupont – injected consistent fizz to the attack, which brought the best out of Romain Ntamack, Moefana and Ramos.
France have always had this potential as well, but scarily they have seemingly found the golden combination at exactly the right time.
If the World Cup was played this October, I think France would steamroller their way to the title if they played like this. Look at the calibre of team’s they’ve disposed of this Championship, a Grand Slam-chasing Ireland, an Italian side who had made great strides and a revved-up Scotland side who came to Paris with a point to prove – and nearly did. Even in the win over Wales, and to some extent in periods in the Twickenham loss, they showed exactly what they can do when they are on song. It would take SOME feat to beat them.
The all-conquering Springboks are probably the only team that really come close to them, and the two sit atop the world order.
Gregor Townsend safe, for now
This was certainly their best performance of the Championship, but on the whole, it’s been another below-par Six Nations. This Scotland team has so much potential to seriously compete for, if not win, the title but yet they are left again thinking ‘what if’.
Wins over Italy and Wales were marred with a poor performance against Ireland and brave losses to England and France, but when all’s said and done Scotland finished outside of the title picture in fourth on 12 points.
Questions have been posed about the future of head coach Gregor Townsend, and this performance might save his job in the short-term. But, if he wants to remain in post for the foreseeable future, they will need to mount a serious challenge for the title next year. They simply have to.
Scottish Lions
This Scotland side are regarded among the most exciting in the Test game, and Graham is likely a front-runner, but tonight was a great advert for a lot of them.
Huw Jones and Blair Kinghorn are probably ready to pre-board onto the flight after their remarkable performances this Championship, but you feel they won’t be the only ones in the squad. Ben White is certainly in the conversation, with scrum-half a very open spot right now, Jamie Ritchie has grown into this Championship incredibly and should be high in Andy Farrell’s thoughts.
Even around that, Rory Darge is a classy player and whilst this wasn’t his best spell of matches he deserves to be in the running, as do Zander Fagerson and Duhan van der Merwe.
You feel, even with the disappointing placement, there will be some high Scottish representation this summer in the red jersey.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/france-v-scotland-five-takeaways-as-barbaric-le-bomb-squad-guide-fabien-galthies-side-to-six-nations-glory
