Stuart Hogg says Scotland were taught a harsh lesson after they were beaten at home by France in the Guinness Six Nations for the first time in eight years.
France ran in six tries at BT Murrayfield to maintain their Grand Slam hopes, with Damian Penaud crossing twice in the 36-17 win.
But Scotland were well in the game for much of the opening 40 and were just 12-10 down when they had a fine chance to take the lead, with Hogg failing to hold on to a looping pass from Chris Harris following a brilliant counter-attack led by Duhan van der Merwe.
Gaël Fickou then scored France’s third try of the match a minute later and that proved decisive, leaving Hogg and Scotland devastated.
“We are gutted with that one. At times, we played some decent rugby and got into some good areas but we let ourselves down at crucial times,” he said.
“Credit to France, they took their opportunities when they were on offer but did they have to work hard for the first three? Probably not.
“We left some points out there. I let one go early doors that could have changed the momentum of the game and it is something I am devastated with.
“We have learned some hard lessons but we will stay tight as a team. We have two more games to show what we are about.
“At times, we did show what it means to play for Scotland. At other times, we were far from good.”
There were some promising signs for Scotland, with flanker Rory Darge scoring his first Test try on his first start.
But Hogg urged Scotland to learn from the defeat as they now look ahead to their Round 4 game against Italy.
“There was some decent stuff in there but you have to be on it for 80 minutes. It is a horrible feeling right now.”
