Scotland expecting France to be eager to avenge recent Six Nations defeats

Sam Skinner has warned his Scotland colleagues to be braced for a France side eager to avenge recent defeats when they meet in Saturday’s Six Nations showdown at Murrayfield.

The Scots are buoyed by the fact they won in Paris last year, while they have also beaten the French in each of their last four encounters in Edinburgh, including in 2020 when they dented their Grand Slam bid.

However, Exeter lock Skinner believes France, who are in good form, will arrive in Scotland’s capital city with no shortage of incentives as they bid to make it three wins out of three in this year’s tournament.

“We’ve played France a few times over the years and winning at home and winning away definitely gives us confidence and belief that we can beat them,” he said.

“But I think you can flip the coin. They came to our place wanting to win a Grand Slam and we stopped them [in 2020] and then we won in Paris so it’s going to give them plenty of energy to fuel the fire. We’re under no illusion about what we’re facing this weekend, that’s for sure.

“We’ve beaten them in the past but they’re an improving side and are extremely strong right now, everyone can see that. And they’ve been consistent with it as well.

“I think this is the strongest France side we’ll have faced over the last few occasions we’ve played them and we need to make sure we’re at our very best in order to get the win.”

Scotland have had a tournament of mixed emotions so far, with their 20-17 opening-day victory over England followed by a defeat by the same scoreline in Wales last time out. Skinner is eager to restore the sense of positivity that prevailed before the disappointment in Cardiff.

“Ultimately we’ve got to move forward at some point and it’s a huge challenge this