Six Nations 2026: The Scots will give France respect but nothing more – Kyle Steyn

Despite France’s strength, they have never carried the same fear factor towards Scotland as the likes of Ireland have in recent times. During Townsend’s reign, they faced France 13 times in Six Nations, Autumn Nations Cup and World Cup matches, winning five of them.

Scotland fans will be quick to point out that it should have been six, given the TV match official’s controversial intervention to rule out what would have been a match-winning try from Sam Skinner in the final of the Six Nations meeting at Murrayfield two years ago.

The average score over those 13 matches is roughly 26-20 (25.76 to 19.58 to be exact) in favor of France, which is an indication that when these teams play it rarely comes as a surprise.

France inflict damage in devastating bursts but open up opportunities to opponents, something Scotland have been able to capitalize on to produce some highly entertaining Test matches.

“They’re two teams that love to play rugby. They’re often really stressful games because you’ve got two teams trying to get a crack,” said Steyn, who after years of playing as a substitute for Doohan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham for the national team. Steyn himself played to the front of the queue for a spot on the pavilion.

“Both teams will make mistakes and obviously we know how dangerous they are in transition, so you have to try not to make those mistakes, but at the same time, they have a lot of power up front that needs to move and we relish the opportunity to play against them and try to make them defend. You look forward to these games, they are always a lot of fun.

“This is a game where you know it’s going to be fun from one to 80. You don’t know what’s going to happen but things will flow.

“France have had a tough tournament so far and when you look at them, they have threats all over the park.

“It’s just like any other week from that point of view. You have to give them the respect they deserve, but nothing more than that.”