France wary of Scotland threat as they return to Murrayfield cauldron

If part of the joy of the Six Nations is the glorious unpredictability of it all, for France there is an uneasy sense of déjà vu about what lies ahead at Murrayfield on Saturday afternoon.

Les Bleus lorded it over Scotland with only one defeat in the first 16 years of the expanded Championship, but 2016 proved something of a watershed in relations for the Auld Alliance, with the Scots having won four of the last six tournament encounters, including the last three in Edinburgh.

Recent history has not stopped thousands of buoyant French supporters descending on the Scottish capital after opening victories over Italy and Ireland, but there are reasons for caution in Tricolore ranks.

Gregor Townsend’s side derailed the last French grand slam bandwagon two years ago, and memories of Scotland’s stunning 27-23 triumph in Paris at the end of last year’s championship are still painfully fresh.

A third successive Championship victory over the French for the first time since 1958 would reignite hopes of a top-two finish for Stuart Hogg and company, with Italy in Rome next and the prospect of heading to Dublin on the final day with an outside shot at the title themselves.

So much for the tartan-tinted view. The pessimists argue, with some justification, that the Scots’ defeat in Cardiff a fortnight ago exposed a familiar failing when burdened with heightened expectations. Then factor in that the French appear to have kicked on apace over the past year, adding greater power, defensive resolve, speed and consistency to their game to the extent that Townsend rates them as “arguably the best team in the world” on current form.

There remains an intriguing psychological dynamic to this fixture, though. France may have blown New Zealand