Scotland put England in their sights as France feelings show how far they've come in Six Nations

In front of a record competition home crowd of 5,601 at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, France won the round two Guinness Women’s Six Nations match 15-5 after Scotland had led 5-3 at half-time thanks to a try by hooker Elis Martin and had an upset in their sights. Defeat ended Scotland’s record seven-match winning streak, but this was a stellar effort in Edinburgh and it shows how far they have come since a 55-0 defeat to France last year that they were frustrated not to have recorded a positive result.

“We are really disappointed, we believed all week in the build-up and right until the end of the game that we could win it,” Mattinson, 27, said. “The wind had a massive impact on the game, we weren't able to control field position because of that. We'll probably kick ourselves for opportunities missed in the first-half.

“But the fact that we've come away from a game against a top three team in the world and we're all gutted that it's 15-5 shows how far we've come in such a short space of time. Hopefully we'll be able to right some wrongs in two weeks’ time against England and go again and keep building in the right direction. Defensively it was big performance against France. Assistant coach Tyrone Holmes particularly has worked really hard to make sure that we're able to defend like that for 80 minutes and we will need to do the same next time out.”

Head coach Bryan Easson has confirmed that replacement Molly Wright was knocked out, but was “up about and walking” in the changing rooms after the game and has now started her HIA return to play protocols. And he said that Francesca McGhie, the winger who has missed the first two matches through injury and illness, will be back in contention for the England game on April 13.