France head coach Fabien Galthie admitted he was hugely disappointed with his side's defeat to Scotland, a loss which put paid to their hopes of a first grand slam in a decade.

The French had looked mightily impressive in their first three games of the Six Nations but against Scotland at Murrayfield, they were unable to impose themselves in any way, and their woes were compounded when Mohamed Haouas was red-carded for a punch on Jamie Ritchie.

It was a stupid, impulsive move from the prop, who put his team under even more pressure with his sending off, and Galthie admitted his players must control themselves better in such situations, as well as turn to plan B when their initial game-plan isn't working.

"We’ve failed in controlling our emotions and need to do this better in the future. Our discipline cost us," he said.

"We need to learn to play without the ball and even if you have it, it doesn’t always mean you will always perform well and win. The fact that we played with 14 men meant we were obliged to keep possession more, especially in such a large and quick pitch – we needed to be more consistent with the ball."

However, Galthie insisted his side would use their defeat to Scotland as motivation for the future.

"This defeat is very disappointing and we didn’t do very well. I want us to remember this feeling though because I believe it can help us in the future," he said.

"We are young though and still in construction. And despite this result, we’ll come out fighting for our next game."