WELL, that was a sore one to watch, so I have nae doubts it will be even sorer to take for the guys that gave everything out on the Stade de France pitch.
And you know something; see when all the aches and bumps and bruises come out, none of them will be as painful as the knowledge that, brave as Scotland were, that was a game they could – and maybe even should – have won.
I’m being honest. A brilliant performance from everyone who started and finished the game. But you don’t play any sport to be good losers and come second. And, be it days, weeks, or even this time next year, that Scotland team will consider that Sunday afternoon in Paris as an opportunity blown.
Read more: Scotland coach Vern Cotter laments lost opportunity to win in Paris
But they’ll know that already. Which is a shame, because they deserved a result for sheer dogged determination in adversity against a French team that wasn’t for going backwards.
The attrition rate in that game was horrendous. I don’t think I’ve seen a harder Test match since at least Saturday when Wales lost it against England. You would think there were Lions places up for grabs or something.
It’s been a while since I found myself getting that excited about any game, never mind an international, in the first couple of minutes. You knew by the early exchanges that this was going to be a monumental contest and it didn’t disappoint.
It was the kind of game that we wanted, with the French opening up and giving us a chance to run at them. But, to do that, you need to do it from the right places on the field. And too often we found our best chances coming on counter-attacks and broken play.
There wasn’t the same composure as we showed against the Irish – not the same cleverness and togetherness. Individually, there were some performances straight out of the top drawer.
Carrying and tackling, Josh Strauss had one of his best ever games in a Scotland jersey. And, without sounding like his agent, Hamish Watson was again, utterly immense for the duration. He could even have had the first try, but Hoggy was always going to finish from that range.
Read more: Scotland coach Vern Cotter laments lost opportunity to win in Paris
The first try we scored, through Stuart Hogg, was all about trying to keep the ball alive when we had an advantage. The second, was entirely about opportunism; a good break and chip from Tommy Seymour, the luck of the bounce, and some tremendous coolness from Tommy to set up Tim Swinson, who deserved that try just for the commitment shown to get up there in support.
The conversion though... It didn’t matter in the end, but it could have. Not being ready with a kicking tee, that is novice stuff.
Where those two scores came from, I don’t really know. Because even though we were scoring and leading, we were never in control. We were hanging on at 13-11 at half-time. It looked ominous when Gael Fickou touched down for France, because they really went through the gears in keeping that play, and the phases leading up to that score, alive.
Thankfully, we have two weeks until the next game against Wales at Murrayfield. They faced up to England, and should – not could – have beaten them. So if they turn up to play in Edinburgh, it should be a humdinger.
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