Having built on their impressive Guinness Six Nations form with a winning start to the Autumn Nations Cup campaign, head coach Gregor Townsend insists Scotland are relishing the prospect of entertaining France next time out.
The 1999 champions enjoyed an encouraging 2020 Championship, boasting the best defensive record of any of the six teams and claiming three victories, including a first on Welsh soil for 18 years.
Another of those wins was against Fabien Galthié’s France, indeed denying Les Bleus what would have been a first Championship title, and a Grand Slam, since 2010.
That 28-17 victory at BT Murrayfield was Scotland’s second of five in succession and, having come from behind to beat Italy by the same scoreline in Round 1 of the Autumn Nations Cup, they are now preparing for France’s visit this weekend.
Despite having got the better of them in the teams’ last meeting, Townsend is clear that Les Bleus – who impressively beat Ireland 35-27 in their final 2020 Guinness Six Nations match last month – currently present one of the toughest challenges in world rugby.
But although Galthié has reversed his decision to rest some of his biggest hitters in the wake of their opening clash against Fiji being cancelled due to Covid-19, Townsend is confident Scotland have what it takes to mix it with their Group B rivals.
“I think France and England look to be the form teams in the world just now,” the 47-year-old said. “New Zealand have lost a couple of games and South Africa haven’t played, whereas France have gone out and scored lots of tries against Wales and Ireland.
“If they had come with a different team it would have presented a really different challenge. There was certainly no [Romain] Ntamack, [Virimi] Vakatawa or Teddy Thomas – all their top players.
“But they came with their strongest team in March and brought the best out in us. The belief that gets created from winning certainly helps and knowing that one of the top teams in the world is coming to town next week will get our focus.
“The boys can prepare for that game knowing there are some things to improve from the Italy match, but the feeling that they found a way to win on the field will just give them an extra bit of confidence if we have to do the same next week.
“We’re on a good run at the moment but our mentality never changes. You go out to win for Scotland – that would be the case if we had five defeats in a row or five wins in a row.”
