Although France will land in Edinburgh this weekend as favorites to beat Scotland and take another step towards their seemingly unstoppable Grand Slam campaign, this Six Nations has already left many tipsters looking a bit foolish.
Who could have predicted that an England side on a 12-game winning streak would be so thoroughly beaten by Scotland in the second round and then a week later eliminated at Twickenham by an Irish side considered by many to have had their time?
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It’s a tournament full of surprises, but Scotland’s hopes of beating France’s Grand Slam on Saturday (14:10 GMT) will be at the top of the list.
Fabian Galthie’s side know that winning the extra points will seal the title with one round to go and will take some pressure off as they look to make it five wins from five in front of their own men when they face England in Paris on the final weekend.
The momentum is equally strong in Scotland. They know a win will mean they head to Dublin to face Ireland in the fifth round, a position they have never been in during the Six Nations era – with a real chance of winning the title in the final game.
To say the first three weeks of the campaign have taken an emotional toll on Scots would be putting it mildly. Italy followed a frustrating opener in Rome with an exciting win over England, showing off Gregor Townsend’s side at their best, before a hard-fought victory over Wales in Cardiff.
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It was exhausting to watch them play, so God knows how the players were feeling after the third round. The only rest week in the new condensed format is a good time for Scotland as they look to reset and continue towards a goal they have never reached.
“It’s obviously a huge motivation but I haven’t even thought about that week in Dublin yet,” Scotland winger Keir Stein said.
The 32-year-old added: “It’s great to be with the family. It’s the first time we’ve had three weeks together and then we’ve obviously moved on [for a training camp] It’s in Spain, so I really like that.
“I feel like it’s really full of emotional and mental reserves again and it’s exciting to go into training camp this week and get into the fight.
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“We know the challenge that’s coming this week and the machine of French rugby at the moment. Whenever we come up against these guys we’re going to have some really good games, some really interesting clashes, some really big clashes… so I’m just looking forward to another one of those.”
“Two teams that love the game”
As powerful as France is, they have never had the same fear factor towards Scotland as countries like Ireland have in recent times. During Townsend’s tenure, they faced France 13 times in the Six Nations, Autumn Nations Cup and World Cup warm-up matches, and won five of them.
Scotland fans were quick to point out that the game should have been six goals because of the controversial intervention of the TV match officials to rule out Sam Skinner’s winning goal in the final game of the Six Nations meeting at Murrayfield two years ago.
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The average scoreline in those 13 games was about 26-20 (25.76 to 19.58, to be precise) in France’s favor, which shows that these teams rarely have blowouts during games.
France have wreaked havoc in devastating outbursts, but they do give their opponents chances and Scotland have been able to exploit this to produce some very entertaining Test matches.
“These are two teams that love to play rugby. Their games tend to be very tiring because there are two teams trying to get through,” Steyn said. He has spent many years as a substitute for Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham in the national team and is now competing for a wide spot at the front of the queue.
“Both teams are going to make mistakes and we obviously know how lethal they are in transition, so you have to try not to make those mistakes, but at the same time, they have a huge juggernaut in front of them that needs to move and we’re excited to get the chance to go against them and try to get them to defend. You look forward to these games, they’re always so fun.
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“It’s one of those games where you just know it’s going to be fun from 1 to 80. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but it flows.
“France have had a great game so far and when you look at them you can see they are dangerous everywhere.
“From that perspective, it’s the same as any other week. You have to give them the respect they deserve – but that’s about it.”
