Scots downed by France after nightmare first half

SCOTLAND 8 FRANCE 28

SKIPPER Rachel Malcolm last night confessed ‘it’s not good enough’ for Scotland to be losing their first three Six Nations games after France became the latest team to topple Bryan Easson’s side. Yesterday’s match at Scotstoun was over by half-time as the visitors went 25 points in front after scoring four converted tries to one penalty from Helen Nelson for the hosts. Although Scotland didn’t concede a single second-half point and secured a try of their own through Chloe Rollie, it was too little, too late. ‘We will dwell on what’s happened because it is not good enough to be losing, especially last week against Wales and this week, too,’ said Malcolm, whose team also lost their opener against England. ‘Our first half was poor but we showed in that second half we could have won the game if we’d turned up from minute one.’ Easson added: ‘We didn’t fire a shot in that first half, which was really disappointing.’ France went ahead after eight minutes when Laure Sansus chased down her own chip kick to score. Nelson got Scotland on the board with a penalty before Jessy Tremouliere landed France’s second try. The third touchdown came when Scotland’s Jenny Maxwell had her clearance kick charged down, with Sansus diving over for her second try.

A minute before the break Gaelle Hermet crashed over for France. Scotland started the second half well but poor handling meant they couldn’t get over the French tryline. They gave away a string of penalties, which resulted in a yellow card for Julie Annery. Scotland made the breakthrough with 11 minutes left when a long pass from Sarah Law put Rollie in at the corner. Scotland: Try: Rollie. Pen: Nelson. France: Tries: Sansus (2), Tremouliere, Hermet Cons: Tremouliere (4).