16-year Twickenham drought 'motivates' France lock Willemse

France lock Paul Willemse said on Sunday the team's poor recent record at Twickenham is the driving force heading to England in the Six Nations in two weeks' time.

Les Bleus last won in the English capital in 2007.

Since Fabien Galthie took over as head coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, France have beaten every opponent they have faced at least once and took the national record to 14 straight victories before February 11's loss at Ireland.

READ | It's a red card frenzy as France end Scotland's Six Nations Grand Slam dream

"We'll see what makes Twickenham such a difficult place to go," Willemse told AFP after beating Scotland 32-21.

"With this team, we haven't done it so far but it motivates us. We've broken almost all of the records with this team, it's one of the few that's left.

"It's a good opportunity for us to use it as extra motivation to go and break that record because it's there for us to do," he added.

Sunday's bonus point win over Scotland came after this year's World Cup hosts led 19-7 at the break. It also keeps their slender hopes of retaining the Six Nations title alive.

France managed to keep the in-form visitors at bay despite just a four-point lead with 11 minutes to play at the Stade de France in a game where both sides were shown red cards.

"We kind of expected them to come back into it," 30-year-old Willemse said.

"We knew they had a good start to the tournament and it wasn't going to be easy against them. It never is," he added.

'Disrupter' Itoje

Willemse's Montpellier and Test team-mate Mohamed Haouas was sent off for a headbutt after lock Grant Gilchrist was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle.

Tighthead prop Haouas was making his first France start since November 2021. He was also shown a