SCOTLAND’S perfect start to the Guinness Six Nations campaign came to an end with a 32-21 defeat to France in Paris.

Gregor Townsend’s side were ripped apart early on as the hosts raced into a 19-0 lead through tries from Romain Ntamack, Ethan Dumortier and Thomas Ramos.

This frenetic period also included red cards for Scotland’s Grant Gilchrist and France’s Mohamed Haouas.

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The Scots played their way back into the match with two tries from Huw Jones and one from Finn Russell, but the hosts killed off their hopes of a famous fightback with a late try from Gael Fickou.

Afterwards Townsend was proud of his side despite their defeat.

He said on ITV: “I was very proud of the team because they probably produced their best rugby of the tournament and didn’t win.

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 “It’s weird saying that when you’ve had two victories but I thought some of our play today was outstanding.

“All of it was effort based, to be a man down and still play at the speed we played at.

“But there was high skill in there as well and then there was resilience. To come back into the game, we are disappointed we didn’t have more points on the board in the first half. We will get so much out this.”

The full match report can be read in this week’s Border Telegraph.