The official On Top Of The Moon ‘Junior Jock of the Match’ goes to…Matt Smith (again!). Another powerful performance defensively, winding up the opposition at the break down and he certainly pilots those mauls well too.
BACKS
Ruairi Howarth – 7
Some quality defensive highlights but it would be nice to see him given the chance to be more involved in the game when Scotland have possession.
Ben Robbins – 8
By far the most threatening of the Scottish backs and would maybe have had a couple more tries if the team’s handling had been better.
Rory Hutchinson – 6
Seems comfortable switching between stand-off and centre. He was probably the least guilty but overall the kicking game was poor.
Tom Galbraith – 6
Continued to showcase his defensive abilities but handling errors and a reliance on the maul have restricted his attacking opportunities.
Darcy Graham – 6
A quieter game for him but it was one of those nights where the opportunities seemed to flow to the opposite wing.
Adam Hastings – 6
Looked keen to try things but the French rush defence gave him little time or space. Some disappointing kicking.
Hugh Fraser – 5
Still well in credit from his earlier performances but hopefully he can learn from the way Dupont (the outstanding player on the pitch) ran the game for France.
FORWARDS
Murray McCallum – 6
Try-scoring streak came to an end but so too did the sight of Scotland losing every scrum. Still far from perfect but a step in the right direction.
Jake Kerr – 5
There were a few too many underthrows in the lineout but he worked hard in the loose and plays, in the fashion of the modern hooker, like an auxiliary flanker.
Zander Fagerson – 6
While he helped shore up the scrum somewhat Ragnar would have hoped to be more dominant. Carrying was excellent.
Callum Hunter-Hill – 6
Flattened a few Frenchmen so he can play the tight game – but also looks like he would enjoy it if Scotland were playing a bit looser and he could have a gallop.
Scott Cummings – 7
His decision-making was pretty much spot on and if opportunities from penalties to the corner had been taken the game was there to be won. Lead from the front with his very high workrate.
Andrew Davidson – 6
He may have been hard done by on couple of penalty calls but part of the flanker’s art is knowing when to avoid giving the ref a decision to make. Still plenty of time to learn this though.
Matt Smith – 8
He’ll need to speak to his coach at the Warriors for some advice as he goes for a try in every round of a 6 Nations next week. Very aggressive in everything he does – a real positive for a back row!
Ally Miller – 6
A couple of bloopers at the base of the scrum but beyond that he carried well and threw himself into battle against a powerful French back row.
SUBSTITUTES
Generally the substitutes maintained the tempo and attitude of the starting players and it’s encouraging to see there may well be some real depth among this group. The stand out player off the bench this week was Scott Burnside for some great breakdown work and his blue scrum cap seemed to be everywhere!
Picture courtesy of Adrian Henry. Visit Rugby People for more of Adrian’s fine work.
On Top Of The Moon 