Scotland v France: Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack pose world-class threat says coach with first-hand knowledge

Having coached Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack at Toulouse, AB Zondagh is unlikely to be surprised by anything the extravagantly gifted pair produce at Murrayfield on Saturday. Stopping them is a different matter, however.

Zondagh, the Scotland assistant coach, rates the half-backs as “world class”, orchestrators of a France team which sits atop the Six Nations standings after two rounds of fixtures.

Every major bookmaker has them as odds-on to win the championship but the highly fancied French have come a cropper against Scotland in each of the last two seasons when they looked well placed to end what is now a 12-year wait for the title.

Zondagh wasn’t around then and cautions against placing too much credence on previous results against Fabien Galthie’s side.

“I don’t think we can read too much into the past,” he said. “France have evolved as a team and we’ve changed ourselves as a team. It’s a new task in hand and it’s going to be a different game. We just have to be prepared for the challenge.

“France are a very good team – they’ve beaten New Zealand, Ireland and Italy. They could be considered the best team at the moment. So it’s going to be a tough challenge. We’re going to have to pitch up and concentrate for 80 minutes. But we’re preparing to face up to the challenge although it will be a tough game I’m sure.”

Zondagh swapped the south of France for Edinburgh last summer, taking on the role of Scotland assistant coach with a special focus on pepping up the attack. His work at Toulouse had caught the eye of Gregor Townsend and the national boss moved swiftly to appoint him as a replacement for Mike Blair when the latter quit the national set-up to take over at Edinburgh.

Zondagh made his name in South African