The wild celebrations of Scotland’s players on the pitch and the coaching staff in their technical box at the back of the West Stand at Murrayfield after the final whistle demonstrated the psychological importance of this comeback victory.
But it was achieved at a cost which could have serious repercussions for Scotland’s World Cup campaign, because they lost first choice scrum-half to an ankle injury midway through the first half, then tight-head prop Zander Fagerson – the anchor of their scrum and arguably their most important forward – to a red-card for head-on-head contact with French hooker Pierre Bourgarit 10 minutes into the second half.
An anxious wait for a medical update on White and on the outcome of Fagerson’s disciplinary hearing has now begun, and the loss of either of those players ahead of the squad being announced a week on Wednesday would be a major setback.
According to World Rugby regulations: "Cases involving an Ordering Off shall, where reasonably practicable, be heard within 48 hours and other than in exceptional circumstances, no later than 72 hours of the conclusion of the Match in which the Player was Ordered Off."
In the meantime, Gregor Townsend and his coaching team will have much to digest from this match as they look to fine tune their squad selection and game-plan for their World Cup campaign, which kicks-off on 10th September in Montpellier.
They will be concerned about being bullied out of the match in the first half, but encouraged by the tenacity and ability to solve problems on the hoof which we saw after the break.
It started positively enough for the home team with captain for the day Finn Russell turning a second-minute scrum penalty into three points, but that was about the only time Scotland got close to the French 22 in the first half.
France opened their account with a fine counter-attack try off which featured Scots-qualified debutant Emilie Gailleton finding space on the right, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Matthieu Jalibert providing support, before Baptiste Couilloud finished off.
The visitors scored again on 24 minutes when another publishing period of pressure culminated in Bielle-Biarrey darting over on the left, and the Scots suffered another blow when White hobbled off then disappeared up the tunnel with a heavily iced and bandaged left ankle following an off the ball challenge from Ethan Dumortier.
France got their third try just before the break when a series of penalties conceded by the Scots accompanied by a series of powerful drives from the visitors culminated in the immense Cameron Woki forcing his considerable frame over the whitewash.
Things started to look up straight from the restart with Scotland finally zipping through a series of attacking phases before Russell angled a kick rightward into the in-goal area and Darcy Graham nipped in ahead of Dumortier to provide the finishing touch.
Then came Fagerson's costly head-on-head collision with Bourgarit. Referee Ben O'Keeffe explaining that the yellow card he was showing would be upgraded to a red if the Foul Play Review Officer – aka ‘The Bunker’ – deemed it neceessary. Inevitably that is exactly what happened.
Despite this setback, Scotland managed to claw their way to just four points adrift a few minutes later, when Graham and Ewan Ashman both carried hard in heavy traffic before Pierre Schoeman burst round the side of a ruck and over the line.
And it looked like the hosts had taken the lead when a looping pass from George Horne sent Kinghorn over on the right – but that try was chalked off before Russell had a chance to slot the conversion due to the eagle-eyed TMO spotting a Graham knock-on earlier in the move.
All the momentum was, however, was with the 14-men of Scotland, with France having cleared their bench and lost their way. Eventually, the relentless pressure inside the visiting 22 paid off when replacement hooker Dave Cherry burrowed over off the back of a line-out maul, although Russell couldn't add the touchline conversion meaning that the home lead was a single point with 15 minutes to go.
A 72nd minute Russell penalty after Horne was blocked at a ruck eased further ahead before France spent the final five minutes camped deep in Scots territory.
The Scottish scrum was under serious pressure before France opted not to pack-down again and kick a penalty to the corner instead, only to fine there was no way through that route, with an excellent low tackle from WP Nel and brilliant jackal from Rory Darge finally securing the hard-fought home win.
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