Pyrotechnics did for Ireland in Dublin last Saturday and the prosaic intermingled with a little panache was enough for France to notch up several records in dispatching Scotland on Saturday night to secure a seventh Six nations title.
France were solid rather than spectacular during the first-half.
Yoram Moefana went over 17 minutes into the encounter at the Stade de France after a Thomas Ramos penalty had opened the scoring.
Ramos added the two points for the conversion to take his tally up to five points and a merited 10-0 lead.
But midway through the half, Ramos petulantly pushed Scotland scrum-half Ben White over Peato Mauvaka and Mauvaka promptly got up and ploughed into White.
His pique was punished with a yellow card and a penalty. Finn Russell converted it to get Scotland going.
Record
In extending France's lead to 13-3, Ramos became France’s all-time top points scorer with 438 points beating Frédéric Michalak's high of 436 points between 2001 and 2015.
But the elation was short lived.
Darcy Graham danced his way through the France defence to register Scotland’s first try and suggest a contest at 13-10 after Russell’s conversion.
Jean-Baptiste Gros’ yellow card and a penalty gave Russell the chance to level and the skipper obliged.
But Ramos added another penalty to give France a 16-13 half-time lead.
Following the break, France re-established a 10-point lead on the counterattack. Romain Ntamack broke clear and set up Louis Bielle-Biarrey for his eighth try of the 2025 campaign and a championship record.
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