The old faithful right boot of Greig Laidlaw – and a startling turnaround in fortunes at the breakdown – lifted Scotland out of their Cardiff depression to victory over France to restart their NatWest 6 Nations campaign at BT Murrayfield.
It was not a wholly restorative win as the Scots made plenty more mistakes and stand-off Finn Russell was hooked early after having possibly his worst game in a Scotland jersey. But Laidlaw was perfect with his kicking after the Scots seemed to sort out a huge problem at the breakdown after half-time.
France forced turnover after turnover there in the first half but in the second could barely contest one without referee John Lacey raising his arm against them. Laidlaw gratefully accepted six penalties in the second 40 minutes to edge the game in his side’s favour.
The scrum-half – although he ended up in a sort of dual stand-off role with Peter Horne for the crucial final quarter – was man of the match, adding two conversions to first-half tries by Sean Maitland and Huw Jones.
France will wonder quite how this one got away, however, as they seemed to have the Scots where they wanted them. They surprised everyone by playing an open game, although in the end it was loose play in the second half, their discipline and failing fitness that cost them.
Scotland suffered a nightmare opening for the second week in a row, and again it was mostly due to their own basic errors.
A promising opening ended with a loose kick and when France countered, Geoffrey Doumayrou’s pass out wide was wild and behind Teddy Thomas.
But the wing regathered and Finn Russell’s one-on-one tackle was pitifully weak, allowing the fleet winger to weave his way from halfway past Stuart Hogg’s despairing tackle and score much as he did against Ireland a week ago.
Maxime Machenaud converted and added a penalty as the Scots came under pressure at the post-tackle area, which was to be a recurring problem as the half progressed.
They needed a quick lift before things got out of hand Cardiff-style and the sight of Hogg racing into the line froze the French defence requiring Thomas to surrender a lineout five metres from his own line.
The lineout maul didn’t go far and the Scots almost lost the ball at a breakdown under the posts, but Horne and Hogg rescued possession and it was swiftly moved for Maitland to score in the corner, Laidlaw converting from the touchline.
The Scots continued to make errors though, and another brought Thomas his second try in 27 minutes.
The French won possession and moved the ball swiftly out to their wing, who kicked over Maitland towards the in-goal area. Laidlaw tracked across and seemed to have everything under control, but he let it bounce away from him and Thomas accepted the gift.
Again Scotland looked on the brink of a collapse, not helped by Russell kicking in-goal from a penalty, but suddenly they managed some flowing attack to get back into the contest again.
Tommy Seymour nearly got away up the right and when France kicked away an advantage, Hogg countered, Grant Gilchrist and Simon Berghan battered into the 22, and Jones ran a brilliant line to slice through under the posts, Laidlaw converting.
For the first time Scotland had the momentum, but they surrendered it by losing a lineout throw in the French 22, and then Maitland was turned over in the shadow of the French posts.
Instead, two penalties were conceded stopping France’s driving maul, the second kicked by Machenaud for a 20-14 half-time lead for the visitors.
But Scotland got the breakdown sorted at half-time – or at least showed the referee what the French were up to – as the visitors were buried under a blizzard of penalties in the second half.
Laidlaw and Baptiste Serin, on for Machenaud at the break, swapped two penalties apiece before the ever-reliable scrum-half booted the Scots to within three points on the hour mark, and then levelled the scores when the Scots forced a penalty at the scrum from 40 metres out.
Townsend then sprung a surprise by bringing on Ali Price but keeping Laidlaw on and removing Russell, while significantly the ball-carrying power of David Denton for skipper John Barclay got the Scots some real go-forward.
Laidlaw’s first act at 10 was a low kick fumbled forward by Lionel Beauxis, a real sign that France had started to waver and run out of steam.
Some more hurried errors and two more breakdown penalties came in quick succession, Laidlaw kicking the second one from easy range to take the Scots ahead for the first time in the match with ten minutes to go.
And five minutes from the end the Scots won field position with another penalty, and inevitably France infringed again in the shadow of their own posts for the former captain to kick his sixth penalty.
There were a few nerves as France had a late chance for a lineout drive in the Scots 22, but the home pack held them and won the turnover to clinch the win.
Att: 67,300
Scotland: S Hogg; T Seymour, H Jones, P Horne, S Maitland; F Russell, G Laidlaw; G Reid, S McInally, S Berghan; G Gilchrist, J Gray; J Barclay (capt), H Watson, R Wilson.
Replacements: S Lawson, J Bhatti for Reid 58, J Welsh, B Toolis for Gilchrist 58, D Denton for Barclay 65, A Price for Russell 65.
France: G Palis; T Thomas, R Lamerat, G Doumayrou, V Vakatawa; L Beauxis, M Machenaud; J Poirot, G Guirado (capt), R Slimani; A Itturia, S Vahaamahina; W Lauret, Y Camara, N Tauleigne.
Replacements:, E Ben Arous for Poirot 58, C Gomes Sa for Slimani 58, P Gabrillagues for Vahaamahina 71, L Picamoles for Tauleigne 58, B Serin for Machenaud 40, A Belleau for Beauxis 71, B Fall forVakatawa 71.
Ref: J Lacey (IRFU)