It would be stretching things past breaking point to describe Vern Cotter's emotional range as expansive, but there was no mistaking the warmth of the Scotland coach's feelings about his players at the end of this often heartening, but ultimately frustrating, evening in Paris.

On his return to the stadium where, in 2010, he enjoyed the finest moment of his coaching career when he led Clermont Auvergne to the French championship title that had eluded them for almost a century, Cotter was ample reason to believe that Scotland's fortunes could be in line for an upturn as well.

They played rugby that was clever, intense and skilful. They set alarm bells ringing in the French defence often enough to suggest that with a fair wind and a little more luck in Edinburgh next weekend they could really damage Wales. They moved the French pack around as they had planned, but they also got close to parity in the set-piece, the area where they were expected to struggle.

Yet Cotter is also the sort of fellow who is ever going to rest on his laurels after a victory, and far less a defeat. In praising his players' application, endeavour and courage, he was also aware that they came up short in a few areas as well, particularly in their failure to back themselves when opportunities opened up. Barring the excellent Stuart Hogg, and perhaps Alex Dunbar as well, there seemed to be an unwillingness amongst players to really pin their ears back.

"The guys were having a go," Cotter acknowledged. "They grabbed the ball and ran with it. But we found ourselves in situations where we got over the advantage line but will we need to keep believing and not be surprised if things unfold in front of us favourably, then go through and finish."

Scotland did that on one occasion, when Dougie Fife was put through for the game's only try, just before the break, but there had been hesitancy even in that move and it almost came to grief when players tried to rumble over the line rather than exploit the massive overlap that had appeared on the right.

Yet in fairness to the Scotland backline, the danger of getting to loose against the French was also made clear in the second half when Tim Visser committed himself to intercepting Bernard Le Roux's pass to Yoann Huget and failed to pull it off. It was only through excellent scramble defence, particularly by Mark Bennett, that Scotland's line survived intact.

Whereas Scotland had applied solid pressure in the first half, there was a feeling in the second that victory would only come from the kind of breakout move that Visser had tried to pull off. As the match wore on, the French forwards, bolstered by replacements who seemed to pack a deal more power than the starting players, started to rumble. But it said a lot about France's performance as a whole that their driving lineout posed a far greater threat to Scotland than their supposedly stellar backline.

"Soporifique!" exclaimed the headline in l'Equipe yesterday morning. "Maladroit et sans idees," the story ran on. They might have been over-egging their creme brulee with that assessment, but French fans will view next weekend's visit to Dublin with trepidation. Les Bleus - or Les Rouges as they were on Saturday - make a habit of starting this tournament slowly, but they will have to find their stride quickly if they are to worry Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

And yet France still had enough to get themselves over the line, their points coming from five penalties by Camille Lopez, the fly-half. The Scots stayed the course and never allowed their opponents to pull away, but they could hardly complain about the overall outcome or the margin on the scoreboard at the end.

"The first feeling is frustration and disappointment," said Cotter. "The positive side is that we scored a try and they didn't. I think we put ourselves in a position to score another couple and they bombed a couple as well. It was a pretty see-saw battle.

"There are things that we will want to improve upon. There were a couple of little errors from pressure. That's why this match was important to us. We will look at the way we approached the game and handled the game. Then we will assess where we are and move forward. There were some good things out there."

Cotter will ave an anxious wait to see how his players recover over the next couple of days. As he observed, it is inevitable that there will be knocks and bruises to be nursed after such a fierce physical contest. He will be grateful for the fact that next weekend's game is on Sunday, even if that means doing without the services of Euan Murray, who put in another hugely impressive shift in the scrum.

There were some lovely cameos by the Gray brothers in the second row. Jonny Gray's work rate was astounding and he topped the Scots' tackle count by some distance. Finn Russell played a measured and self-assured game, looking more and more the real deal as a Test fly-half.

There was also, almost unnoticed, a poignant touch by Greig Laidlaw, the Scotland captain, who wore a black armband as a mark of respect to Charlie Bird, the legendary former Jed-Forest prop who died last week.

France: S Spedding; Y Huget, M Bastareaud (R Lamerat, 71), W Fofana, T Thomas; C Lopez, R Kockott (M Parra, 55); A Menini (E Ben Arous, 40), G Guirado (B Kayser, 47), R Slimani (U Atonio, 54), P Pape (R Taofifenua, 61), Y Maestri, T Dusautoir (captain; L Goujon, 79), B Le Roux, D Chouly.

Pens: Lopez (5).

Scotland: S Hogg; T Seymour (D Fife, 16), M Bennett, A Dunbar (P Horne, 68), T Visser; F Russell, G Laidlaw (captain; S Hidalgo-Clyne, 78); A Dickinson (G Reid, 60), R Ford (F Brown, 67), E Murray (G Cross, 64), R Gray (J Hamilton, 66), J Gray, R Harley (A Strokosch, 51), B Cowan (R Harley, 54-64), J Beattie.

Try Fife Pen Laidlaw.

Referee: N Owens (Wales)