Rugby Union: Scots' generosity reaches Aberdeen

Scotland A. . .19

France A. . . .29

NOT EVEN Perry Mason could make out a case for a Scotland A defence which leaked tries left and right but mostly through the middle against their French counterparts in Aberdeen, a city where residents have a reputation for giving away nothing.

One rare success was Dave McIvor, who surely tackled his way into the summer tour of the South Sea Islands on a day when the experiment of playing the 6ft 8in lock Andy Macdonald at blindside flanker came unstuck.

The Scottish hierarchy, who had gambled by selecting outside the First Division in a couple of positions, did not try to conceal shortcomings after a performance which saw five soft tries conceded before Kenny Logan partially atoned for an erratic display. David Johnston, the Scotland coach, said: 'We learned that missing tackles costs tries. We had the equipment to win but made life as hard as we could for ourselves. We never built the platform to have a go at them.'

Scotland had no more than an edge at the line-out, where they might have expected to take control, and Chris Gray, the captain, felt many of the problems stemmed from an inability to curb France's rolling maul.

Gray acknowledged that the killer blow on Saturday came when France quickly added to a 17-0 half-time lead. Leon Llopy ran 40 yards from near his own line to spark a breakout and the rout was completed by the scrum-half Fabian Gaulthie.

Scotland A: Penalties Donaldson 4; Try Logan. France A: Tries Bertrank 2, Larran, Arbo, Gaulthie; Conversions Belot, Labbia.

SCOTLAND A: K Logan (Stirling Co); K Milligan (Stewart's-Melville FP), I Jardine (Stirling Co), D Wyllie (Stewart's Melville FP), J Kerr (Haddington); A Donaldson (Currie), D Millard (London Scottish); G Wilson (Boroughmuir), M Scott (Edinburgh Academicals), S Ferguson (Peebles), C Gray (Nottingham, capt), S Munro (Glasgow High/Kelvinside), A Macdonald (Heriot's FP), D McIvor (Edinburgh Acadademicals), I Smith (Gloucester).

FRANCE A: J-L Sadourny (Colomiers); F Bertrank (Montferrand), P Arletaz (Perpignan), J-C Larran (Tarbes), L Arbo (Perpignan); B Bellot (Graulhet), F Gaulthie (Colomiers, capt); L Benezech (Racing Club), S Morizot (Perpignan), P Gallart (Beziers), Y Lemeur (Racing), O Merle (Grenoble), L Llopy (Toulon), S Dispagne (Narbonne), J-M Lhermet (Montferrand). Replacement: L Labbia (Perpignan) for Bellot, 40.

Referee: B Campsall (England).