2020 Autumn Nations Cup – Scotland vs France Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is Scotland vs France taking place? Sunday 22nd November, 2020 – 15:00
Where is Scotland vs France taking place? Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Where can I get tickets for Scotland vs France? This match will be played without spectators
What channel is Scotland vs France on? This match will not be televised live in the UK
Where can I stream Scotland vs France? Amazon Prime subscribers can stream this match live online
THE TEAM NEWS
SCOTLAND
Starting line-up: 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 Sean Maitland
FRANCE
Starting line-up: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Vincent Rattez, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon (c), 6 Dylan Cretin, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Bernard le Roux, 3 Demba Bamba, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Mohamed Haouas, 19 Paul Willemse, 20 Cameron Woki, 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Louis Carbonel, 23 Arthur VincentTHE PREDICTION
Scotland may come to feel hard done by at the end of the group stage if points difference comes into play, with France awarded a bonus-point 28-0 victory over Fiji by default after the Fijian squad was decimated by covid-19 contractions. That means there is extra bite in this match as the winner of this test at Murrayfield will almost certainly top the group and go through to face the second seed of Group A. Scotland were a little shaky in their match away to an attractive Italian team but managed to outscore the Azzuri’s 17 points to come away with the bonus-point win. France are currently top of the group without even facing a tackle yet and that could help or hinder them in a myriad of ways when they travel to Scotland with match practice in their ranks. The home side were the only team to beat Les Bleus in their emphatic attempts at the Six Nations title and this match should decide which of these dark horses gets to challenge for the Autumn Nations Cup title. With all this on the line, the score could suffer in a closely contested match and a result could go either way. One of two options, Scotland to shade this encounter or the result to fall under 40 points, seem the most reasonable but this should be a brilliant match capable of surprises.
