The National Times - Townsend upbeat as Scotland head to France for tough Six Nations finish

Scotland coach Townsend, speaking after his side's fourth-round 35-29 win over Wales at Murrayfield last weekend, said playing France represented "probably the biggest challenge in world rugby right now".

And few observers give much for the Scots' chances of stopping an in-form France from gaining the victory they will likely need to seal a first Six Nations title since 2022.

But Townsend is encouraged by the fact Scotland's last three meetings against France have been decided by a margin no greater than four points, while the Scots -- who won in Paris in 2021 -- were in contention on their last Six Nations trip to the French capital only until the hosts scored late to seal a 32-21 success.

"From our perspective, we've played well in the (France) games," said Townsend after naming his side on Thursday. "We've had to recover at times from two red cards in the last two or three games against them.

"One, we got back into position two years ago at Stade de France to really put them under pressure (in the 2023 Six Nations) and then a World Cup warm-up game (at Murrayfield) to come back and win with 14 men.

"We've gone well in this fixture, our players are a quality group, they thrive in that atmosphere. They thrive with the challenge and this is what we're asking them to do again this weekend."

Scotland have never finished higher than third in the Six Nations era and defeats by Ireland and England this season have once more effectively ruled them out of title contention.

But former Scotland playmaker Townsend dismissed suggestions that his side's performance at the Stade de France would determine whether this had been a good championship for the team.

"We'll evaluate every game and what we could have done better and where we were," he said. "It's up to others to evaluate where we are. I feel strongly that this has been a very good tournament in terms of how we've played."

Townsend has made two changes to the side that started the win over Wales, a match where Scotland surged into a 35-8 lead before conceding several late tries as the winless Welsh rallied.

Both of the alterations are to the pack, with Glasgow lock Gregor Brown, 23, given his first Six Nations start in place of Jonny Gray and Matt Fagerson coming in for the injured Jack Dempsey at No 8.

"I think Gregor's done really well off the bench," said Townsend, adding: "He is very good in the line-out, really athletic, technically really strong.

"Same at scrum time as well, technically very good... It allows us to have someone who has got the skill and speed of a back-rower but the technical ability of a second-rower to bring that out from the start this week."

P.Sinclair--TNT