Scotland’s women put up a brave and determined effort at the Stadium Lille Metropole last night but were comfortably beaten seven tries to two by their French counterparts in this Six Nations encounter.
The home team, with an ever-dominant pack, opened the scoring eight minutes in. Five metres out, scrum-half Pauline Bourdon went for the narrow side, passing to Gabi Vernier, the centre crashing through three potential tacklers and over for the score. By the quarter-hour mark, France had doubled their try count.
From a scrum, No 8 Romane Menager picked up, flipped a short pass to Bourdon on her shoulder who touched down for a 10-0 lead.
Showing some patience, Scotland played their way back into the tie, Hannah Smith showing up well with ball in hand, eventually providing the pass to release Loughborough Lightning wing Rhona Lloyd in the corner.
However, France pushed further ahead, fly-half Emma Coudert probing with a chip over the top, the bounce of the ball sitting perfectly for Vernier to cross for her second try, Bourdon this time converting, repeating the dose when full-back Doraine Constanty raced in from outside the 22 for a bonus-point try and a 24-5 interval lead.
After 53 minutes, Vernier touched down to complete her hat-trick, the Scots undone by Celine Ferer’s chip over the blitz defence. Caroline Boujard ran in an excellent try in the corner for France, while Lea Murie caught a cross-kick to score, either side of lock Emma Wassell effort for the Scots.
Scorers: France – Tries: Vernier 3, Bourdon, Constanty, Boujard, Murie.
Cons: Bourdon 3.
Scotland – Tries: Lloyd, Wassell
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