Scotland 20-16 France

MATCH SUMMARY Scotland: (13) 20 Tries: Lamont 2 Cons: Paterson 2 Pens: Paterson 2 France: (3) 16 Tries: Bonnaire, Bruno Pens: Elissalde 2

Scotland held on for a magnificent victory over France in Frank Hadden's first Six Nations match in charge.

Sean Lamont scored a try in either half as the Scots put on a fantastic display, never allowing the French to get into their stride.

The visitors put their hosts under more pressure as the second half wore on but the Scottish defence was superb.

Second-half tries by Julien Bonnaire and Sebastien Bruno brought the French close but Scotland held firm.

The French were out of the blocks more smartly, but it was the Scots who passed up a terrific opportunity to score the first try.

Dan Parks passed to Jason White when he might have gone directly for the line.

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Then with three men on the overlap, White elected to hold onto the ball and he was brought down short of the line by Dimitri Szarzewski and the chance was lost.

But the Scots' pressure was rewarded when the ball was finally released from a ruck near the French line and Lamont evaded the arms of Frederic Michalak to cross under the posts. Chris Paterson easily converted.

The Scots continued to belie their pre-match tag as underdogs with some exhilarating rugby and Paterson was able to add a penalty from the French 10-metre line as the visitors' unforced errors count mounted.

Match reaction

Mike Blair and Paterson combined to great effect to mount another breakaway - the latter being halted by an early tackle, which led to another penalty, again successfully converted by Paterson.

Sean Lamont goes over for the game's first score

Michalak underlined the frustration of the French with a poor drop-goal attempt, but they did get on the scoreboard just before half-time courtesy of a Jean-Baptiste Elissalde penalty, after Bruce Douglas was penalised.

But Scotland increased their lead again with a phenomenal try. A driving maul drove the French pack back 22 metres and as it reached the try-line, Lamont got his hands on the ball to dive over.

Paterson added the two points with his most difficult kick of the day.

Match statistics

That at last prompted a positive response from the French and some swift passing allowed Bonnaire to cross the line in the corner. Elissalde, though, struck the post with his kick.

Paterson then missed a straightforward kick in front of the posts, and almost immediately afterwards Elissalde reduced the deficit with a kick of his own.

Match as it happened

But far from capitulating as the French applied more concerted pressure, Scotland held firm, forcing their opponents into more mistakes.

As full-time approached, though, France pinned the Scots back and their patience paid off when Bruno powered over, only for Elissalde to miss the conversion and Scotland saw out the final minutes.

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Scotland: Southwell; Paterson, Di Rollo, Henderson, S Lamont; Parks, Blair; Kerr, Hall, Douglas; Kellock, Murray; White (capt), Taylor, Hogg.
Replacements: Lawson, Smith, MacLeod, Petrie, Cusiter, Ross, Webster.

France: Brusque; Dominici, Fritz, Valbon, Heymans; Michalak, Elissalde; Marconnet, Szarzewski, De Villiers; Pelous (capt), Thion; Nyanaga, Martin, Bonnaire.
Replacements: Bruno, Milloud, Nallet, Lievremont, Yachvili, Boyet, Bousses.