Gregor Townsend urges Scotland to embrace ‘toughest fixture in world rugby’

Gregor Townsend has told his Scotland players to embrace “the toughest fixture in world rugby” as they bid to try and stop rampant France landing the Guinness Six Nations title in “pumped up” Paris on Saturday night.

Despite returning to winning ways with an erratic 35-29 victory at home to struggling Wales on Saturday, the Scots are set for another underwhelming mid-table finish following damaging back-to-back defeats by Ireland and England.

Townsend’s men will still play some part in deciding the outcome of the title, however, with France in pole position and primed for glory unless the visitors can pull off what would be a shock win in the Stade de France.

“It will be pumped up to the max, won’t it?” mused the Scotland head coach. “I think the atmospheres now at Stade de France are amazing. We saw it during the World Cup (in 2023).

“They’re a quality side. When you saw the French club teams dominating in Europe and scoring 70-80 points against quality English sides on a couple of occasions, it shows you what can happen if you allow them to get on the front foot.

“France scored 70 points against a very good Italian team, they got 40 points against Wales, 40 points against Ireland. I think they could have scored 40 or 50 against England with the amount of chances they had. Just now, probably this is the toughest fixture in world rugby.

“They beat the All Blacks in November, so we can’t wait to be involved in it. We know they’ll be going for the title, but it’s an opportunity for us to go out and play against one of the best teams right now.”

Townsend acknowledged his team will not get away with the type of final-quarter drop-off that undermined what, for the best part of an hour, was shaping up as an emphatic and