France claimed their seventh Six Nations trophy in a record-strewn 35-16 victory Scotland on Saturday, shaking off their beautiful runners-up tag on a crisp evening at the Stade de France.
Les Bleus matched England's number of titles since Italy joined the championship in 2000 and did so in style, scoring 30 tries in a pulsating campaign to make sure they would not end up runners-up for the fifth time in six years.
Their only defeat came against England at Twickenham but Fabien Galthie's side put that 26-25 loss behind them by humiliating Italy before crushing Ireland despite losing their talismanic captain Antoine Dupont through injury.
The hosts turned on the gas after the interval on Saturday, and prevailed through tries by Yoram Moefana (2), Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos, who kicked the other points to become came France's all-time record points scorer.
Scotland made a game of it and scored a try through Darcy Graham with Finn Russell kicking their other points.
France, who gave Galthie his second title after the 2022 Six Nations since he took charge in 2020, finished on 21 points with England second.
It was party time at the Stade de France but Les Bleus only really got into their groove after the break, relying again on forward power to finish off a combative but limited Scotland team.
Dupont, who ruptured his ACL against Ireland, stayed with the squad and the mercurial scrumhalf received the loudest cheers as he watched from the stands.
France started well.
Gael Fickou tore through the middle and set up fellow centre Moefana for a try between the posts while Scotland were down to 14 after Jamie Ritchie was shown a yellow card.
France, however, suffered a blow when Peato Mauvaka was sin-binned for head-butting Ben White and the hooker look relieved when he heard the sanction was not upgraded to a red card.
Ramos slotted a penalty from under the sticks to beat Frederic Michalak's record of 436 points scored for France and give them a 13-3 lead. He now has 450 to his name.
The visitors reduced the arrears when Graham touched down after collecting Russell's inside ball. The flyhalf converted and added a penalty to level the scores as French prop Jean-Baptiste Gros was sent off for 10 minutes.
Ramos, however, restored a slim advantage with a penalty on the stroke of halftime before giving away possession with a poor kick.
Scotland's Tom Jordan went over after a superb Blair Kinghorn break but the try was ruled out by the TMO as the fullback was ruled to be in touch.
Bielle-Biarrey scored a championship record eighth try in a single campaign after being set up by Romain Ntamack who had sprinted through the defence.
Then came the bomb squad as Galthie sent five forwards on from the bench and Scotland cracked.
Ramos crossed the whitewash after another devastating rolling maul and Moefana, who bulldozed past Russell after Fickou's offload, claimed the bonus-point try. (Reuters)
France beat Scotland to claim Six Nations
2025-03-16 HKT 06:39
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