Match Centre: Six Nations: Scotland 16-20 France

Scotland 16-20 France, Murrayfield

Scotland's late controversial try was denied as they were edged out by France with a 16-20 margin in the second round of the Six Nations tournament at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday.

Trailing by four points, the Dark Blues thought they secured their second win as they felt they grounded the ball and even though the replays did not conclusively show otherwise, referee Nic Berry awarded no-try helping France get away with a victory. This is first win for France in two games as they move to the fourth place in the table while Scotland are at second place.

Scotland had a late change before the game as Kyle Steyn withdrew from the game as his wife was going into labour as Harry Paterson started at fullback while shifting Kyle Rowe to the wing.

The home side opened their account in the 7th minute as Paterson pushed forward and offloaded to Ben White, who went past a couple of French defenders to touchdown and Finn Russell converted it making it 7-0 before Grant Gilchrist was penalised for offside allowing Thomas Ramos to kick a penalty goal in the 11th minute.

The start of the second quarter saw Russell kicking his second penalty due to offside infringement and soon the score became 13-3 around the 29th minute following another infringement from the Les Bleus. The gap between the sides came down to three points as Gael Fickou dived in the corner and Ramos improved it.

The stroke of half time saw France reduced to 14 players temporarily with Uini Atonio sin-binned for shoulder charging Dempsey as he drove from the back of the ruck but Scotland did not make use of the numerical advantage as the gap continued to remain at three points until the 57th minute when Russell landed a three-pointer making it 16-10.

The 69th minute saw France went into the lead for the first time as Louis Bielle-Biarrey exhibited great pace to dot down and Ramos nailed the conversion and followed it with another penalty goal in front of the posts making it 16-20 before the controversial try attempt from Scotland was turned down in the added minutes handing France a thrilling win.

Team line up:

Scotland: 15. Harry Paterson, 14. Kyle Rowe, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben White; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Grant Gilchrist, 5. Scott Cummings, 6. Matt Fagerson, 7. Rory Darge, 8. Jack Dempsey.

Reserves: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Elliot Millar Mills, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Andy Christie, 21. George Horne, 22. Ben Healy, 23. Cameron Redpath

France: 15. Thomas Ramos, 14. Damian Penaud, 13. Gael Fickou, 12. Jonathan Danty, 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10. Matthieu Jalibert, 9. Maxime Lucu; 1. Cyril Baille, 2. Peato Mauvaka, 3. Uini Atonio, 4. Cameron Woki, 5. Paul Gabrillagues, 6. Francois Cros, 7. Charles Ollivon, 8. Gregory Alldritt.

Reserves: 16. Julien Marchand, 17. Sebastien Taofifenua, 18. Dorian Aldegheri, 19. Posolo Tuilagi, 20. Alexandre Roumat, 21. Paul Boudehent, 22. Nolann Le Garrec, 23. Yoram Moefana.