Six Nations: Scotland lose to France after heart-stopping finale

A heart-stopping finale where Scotland thought they had snatched victory at the death turned into heart-break as a final push to score was deemed no try and France left Edinburgh with the win.

Harry Paterson was called-up on the morning of the match to make his Scotland debut in the number 15 jersey after winger Kyle Steyn’s wife went into labour and he left the squad to be with her. Kyle Rowe shifted from full back to wing.

Scotland struck first through a sumptuous backline move as every back except Rowe touched the ball to carve France open.

Huw Jones made the decisive offload to Ben White who slid over the whitewash. Finn Russell added the conversion to make it 7-0.

France quickly got on the scoreboard when Tomas Ramos evaded the tackle of Rowe and the scrambling Scots were caught offside. Ramos kicked the points to make it 7-3.

Scotland exerted a lot of pressure on the back of some French mistakes and it yielded a penalty in front of the posts after 21 minutes. Russell opted to take the points on offer and ticket the score to 10-3.

Another offside penalty in the 28th minute allowed Russell to extend the lead to 10 points.

France fired straight back into the contest as they played a penalty advantage while Scotland’s Matt Fagerson was off the field getting treatment. They made the numerical advantage count as they went wide for Gael Fickou to score.

The Ramos conversion was good to make it 13-10.

Scotland put the French line under severe pressure as the minutes ticked towards half time and after multiple infringements, Uini Atonio was yellow carded for a no-arm tackle on Matt Fagerson.

The Dark Blues had pressure with scrums in the shadow of the posts but a huge effort from Les Bleus won them the scrum penalty and they kicked the ball dead to end the half.

The third quarter of the match was littered with errors, particularly in handling, with the cold conditions perhaps contributing.

Scotland managed to get the first points of the second half when Russell kicked from the tee following an offside.

France grabbed their opportunity when it came after 69 minutes, playing off a scrum in Scotland’s half winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey chipped over the backline and hunted the loose ball down to score.

Ramos made the conversion to edge the visitors in front for the first time in the match.

The France full back was perfect from the boot again after Scotland had collapsed a maul, allowing the lead to stretch to 20-16 with just four minutes remaining.

A thrilling burst through the defence from Rowe threatened to bring a grandstand finish but the Glasgow Warrior spilled the ball while being tackled, gifting a scrum back to France six metres from their own line.

Scotland incredibly won back the ball and pummelled the line looking for the grandstand comeback.

Jack Dempsey muscled across and believed he had grounded the ball but referee Nic Berry called it as held up.

The video replays suggested the ball may have touched grass but there was deemed to be no conclusive evidence and so the decision stayed no try – and Scotland were defeated in heartbreaking circumstances.