Taylor eyeing 'great game' in Paris

Scotland defence coach Matt Taylor expects to face a more expansive France side when the RBS 6 Nations kicks off - but he believes his team can match them at their own game.

And Taylor is also confident that Scotland can retain a strong defensive line against the French side in Paris on Saturday.

Scotland scored five tries against both Tonga and Argentina in November and Taylor promised they will take the game to their hosts at the Stade de France.

Taylor told the Scottish Rugby Union's YouTube channel: "France is always a team that likes to play and so are we, so I think it's going to be a great game.

"With how we played in the autumn and how France played in the autumn, it's going to be a great game.

"We are not daunted by going over to France, we are looking at it as a great opportunity.

"From what we can make out and with the stats, they are certainly playing a more expansive game than they have in the past.

"They have always got a strong scrum and they have a strong lineout drive, which we know about, but also they have got some really good backs: Teddy Thomas is a really good player; (Yoann) Huget on the wing is an exciting player; they have (Mathieu) Bastareaud - so they have strong carriers.

"But they are certainly trying to play a wider type of game and we will need to be shutting that down for us to have a chance of winning."

With two wins from three in the autumn, and a narrow defeat to New Zealand, Taylor has good foundations to build on as he seeks to make Scotland stronger defensively.

"I think in the autumn we defended reasonably well," he said.

"We kept Tonga try-less, which is a really good achievement for any international team.

"New Zealand had two tries and for one of the best attacking teams in the world, that wasn't too bad. We stopped them playing in many regards.

"Against Argentina, unfortunately we took our foot of the gas defensively and we had a few discipline problems right at the end which allowed them to gain a couple of tries, which was disappointing. But overall we did a reasonably good job defensively in the autumn."