Scotland's 'fire' In Way Of France's Six Nations Title Hopes

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Mar, 2021 ) :The best defence of the past two editions of the Six Nations stands between France and a first title in more than a decade as a depleted Scotland head to Paris on Friday.

The Championship decider has been postponed since late-February after a Covid-19 outbreak among the home camp.

Les Bleus will lift their first trophy since 2010 but need to score four tries or more in a victory of more than 20 points on Friday.

If they fail then Wales, who lost at the Stade de France last Saturday, will claim the tournament.

"Fight fire with fire - I think that's what we have to do, whether that's a physical battle or a game that gets the ball moving," Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said.

"If France are moving the ball, we've got to make sure that we are forcing errors from them," he added.

Centre Gael Fickou is the most experienced member of Fabien Galthie's squad with 62 Tests since his debut in 2013.

During his international career he has experienced heavy defeats to England, New Zealand and South Africa but France's fortunes have turned around since Galthie's appointment last year.

"I ate some stale bread with the old generation so I know it will be enormous for our supporters and our families because it's been such a long time they've been waiting for it," Fickou said.

"But we can't get mixed up, we have to concentrate on the victory, then as time goes by, if we can win the title then we'll go for it without hesitation.

"We will give 200% to try and bring the trophy home," he added.

- 'Competitive' Galthie - Townsend has been able to name Exeter Chiefs' Stuart Hogg at full-back thanks to an agreement between English clubs and the Scottish Rugby Union as the match falls out of World Rugby's Test window.

However the former fly-half will be without experienced winger Sean Maitland as they were limited to five England-based players with Scotland searching for their first win in Paris since 1999.

Townsend scored a try on that day as the away side went on to lift the last Five Nations.

"It was one of those amazing games where everything just comes right. The fact that it was the last game of the season was, I felt, very important to that happening. We'd built a lot of connections," Townsend said.

"So, having the last game of the season should help us now. I know it's been a different type of season for us, but we can now throw everything out there that we've worked on this year," he added.

Townsend's relationship with Galthie stretches back to the ex-playmaker's time with Castres in the French top-flight.

They featured together in the former scrum-half's final match, as the French Barbarians lost to Australia in 2004.

"It was great to play alongside him because he was a very, very talented player and he played heads up, he looked like a stand-off playing scrum half and he had great intelligence, but it was his competitiveness that set him apart," Townsend said.

"They are good traits for coaching and he has done a really good job over these last two years," Townsend added.