Hogg impresses in Scotland defeat to France

Two-time British & Irish Lions tourist Stuart Hogg showed flashes of brilliance despite being unable to prevent Scotland from slipping to a 32-3 defeat to France in Nice. [more]

Hogg impresses in Scotland defeat to France

Alivereti Raka opened the scoring for the hosts before a Maxime Medard brace and further scores from Gregory Alldritt and Antoine Dupont sealed a five-try triumph for Les Bleus.

A sluggish start from the visitors saw Alivereti Raka put Les Bleus ahead inside two minutes after being gifted an attacking platform from a Stuart McInally lineout overthrow.

Camille Lopez added the extras and another three points after Scotland were penalised at the scrum to put France 10-0 up, with Medard also having a try ruled out for a forward pass.

But while Scotland’s pack struggled to deal with France’s intensity, they did look dangerous in attack as Hogg showed his pace with a rapid half-break to get his side on the front foot.

They were unable to make France pay with their possession, though, and the hosts soon had another score as Medard finished off an overlap down the left channel.

Adam Hastings responded with a penalty to get Scotland on the board before Hogg cut through the Les Bleus defence again during a break that took the visitors up to halfway.

Scotland failed to capitalised once again, however, and went into the half-time break 20-3 behind after Alldritt made the most of a France maul to dot down a third try.

Further tries for the home side followed after the restart as Medard scored his second of the game before Dupont grabbed France’s fifth, with Lopez converting to make it 32-3.

And despite the best efforts of Hogg, a Lions tourist in 2013 and 2017, Scotland were unable to close the deficit as France saw out the remaining minutes for a comfortable victory.

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