The 50 points racked up against France will dim memories of dire days — it’s just a shame that fans won’t see the thistle pinned on red jerseys this year

Winning the Auld Alliance Trophy, which commemorates the 30 Scottish and 22 French players killed in the First World War, clearly meant a lot to Tuipulotu
RUSSELL CHEYNE/REUTERS

Where on God’s Earth did that come from? How wonderful if you had a few pounds on Scotland to score 50 on Saturday, the odds would have been monstrously good. We can come to the France part in their own downfall later.

And the only reservation I can think of in the hearts and minds and beer glasses of Scotland rugby followers is that there is no British & Irish Lions tour this year.

Had there been one, then Scotland — who traditionally have only a small gang — would have flooded the bus. On the evidence of the match there would be about 19 Lions, plus Dr Finlay on the medical side, and the tour song would be Donald, Where’s Yer Troosers?, with Gregor Townsend as head coach. Yes, that is the same Gregor for whom the knives were out only a few short weeks ago.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend celebrates with wing Kyle Steyn after a match.

Townsend, right, and Kyle Steyn savour a performance brimming with élan, ambition and passion

Scotland’s followers have sat through so many seasons of disappointment, and scores of games where they came in hope, played earnestly but lacked penetration. On Saturday it was as though they were playing out all the frustrations of the years, with artistry. They were so good that it was as though they were playing against a sieve, a giant white sieve. With a cockerel emblem.

Nothing should detract from Scotland’s performance. They were lively, quick, sustained and magnificent — what would England give, for example, for a centre partnership of Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu; or a magnificent orchestrator such as Finn Russell or a barnstorming forward such as Jack Dempsey. It would be a travesty, despite the final scoreline, if anyone deemed this to have been a close game. It was not — the match was already decided when France began to play.

But it is also significant that this horribly porous French team had in their camp the most famous defensive coach that rugby has ever known in Shaun Edwards, who was sitting gloomily in the stand, and knowing our Shaun may well have unloaded a boatload of frustrations on his men afterwards.

France have been arguably the best team in the world since the World Cup. How could they be so dreadful for so long? In the end, that is the key question from Murrayfield 2026, especially since England have to go to Paris now, but not with a grand slam on the line.

There was an element of this sense of shock in the refereeing at Murrayfield, because I felt that the official was paying attention to only one team for the most part.

Scotland's Jack Dempsey in action with France's Louis Bielle-Biarrey during the Six Nations Championship.

France’s Louis Bielle-Biarrey is stretched to the limit by the redoubtable Dempsey

But there was something far more important. France have had the wind taken out of them this season by their head coach, Fabien Galthié. Their team on Saturday was unrecognisable from others in this tournament, and from what was seen to be the first-choice team at the start of the season.

For some reason, probably to assert himself as the “big man”, he dropped the brilliant wing Damian Penaud. When Penaud played so beautifully for France in the autumn, he was still on his pedestal and still unarguably the darling of the crowds.

But authorities on the fringes of the team claim that Galthié wanted to make some form of example of Penaud, and he ejected him.

Frankly, he has ejected others. France is a nation of magnificent forwards, so where on Earth did they get that weedy bunch in Scotland? Why were some out of position, and why was Julien Marchand the only really class act to be chosen? I would be amazed if too many of the squad of 23 are chosen again against England.

Finally, what are we to make of the 90 points scored in what is meant to be a game in which defences can dominate? We can leave reservations for another day, and on that day we can bemoan some of the great pillars of the game that we no longer see on the pitch.

But until then we can revel in all those tries, revel in Scotland playing with quite magnificent confidence, élan, ambition and passion. Scotland fans have waited so long for this performance, but the 50 points will dim the memories of the dire days.

Quick. Fix a Lions tour, to pin the thistle on the red jersey.

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A 2026 Lions tour would have 19 Scots and Gregor Townsend as coach