Kyle Steyn said the key to his side’s stunning 50-40 Six Nations victory over France on Saturday was striking first. The 32-year-old was named man of the match after he and his fellow wing Darcy Graham scored two tries each in a match they actually led 47-14 at one point.
That would have been a record Scottish victory over France but instead Steyn and his teammates had to settle for a highest ever score after outscoring France by seven tries to six.
“I think we knew you couldn’t come and try to contain them, you had to fire shots at them,” Steyn told the BBC. “You just knew it was going to be a great day. It was all about making sure we fired the first shot. I was more worried about how much we were celebrating, we needed to get our feet on the ground and keep going.”
The Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, paid tribute to his players, saying that “painful moments and defeat” had inspired the rampant Scots, who produced one of their greatest-ever performances to blow Fabien Galthié’s team away.
He told BBC One: “It was a brilliant day, brilliant day for our supporters. Not just the rugby we played, but the mindset to keep attacking, a lot of teams would sit on that lead against France. We know the best way of winning is playing like what got us that success in the first half. I believed in the team.
“Our game is built to put some of our best strike players in the game into space and they built phase after phase and grew in confidence. You need painful moments and defeat to make you the team you’re going to be. Italy is part of the journey.”
Despite their chastening afternoon, France earned a try-bonus point that kept them on top of the table with a huge points difference advantage over Scotland before the final round of matches next Saturday. Scotland travel to Ireland, who can also still win the title, with France hosting England. France and Scotland both have 16 points to Ireland’s 14.
The France lock Charles Ollivon bemoaned his team’s ill discipline. “It just got away from us. A lot of indiscipline, not enough commitment,” he told the French channel TF1. “Now it’s done, it’s behind us. We have to be able to switch back on this coming week. We have to get over it and start again from a solid base to go after the title next week.” To that end, the bonus point was crucial.
“That was the aim, to score four tries. We managed to do that in the second half to keep our destiny in our own hands.”
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