So, a frenetic afternoon of rugby ends with a huge victory for Scotland that derails France's bid for a first grand slam in a decade.

The French effort was grossly undermined by a red card to prop Mohamed Haouas, who foolishly and needlessly punched Jamie Ritchie in the face on the stroke of half-time.

Trailing 7-6, Scotland seized the initiative, Sean Maitland touching down either side of the interval before Stuart McInally made the game safe.

Scotland should have had a bonus point, but couldn't conjure a fourth try. France continued to strain and press, Charles Ollivon scoring, but they too fell short of a losing bonus.

They are level on points with England at the summit, but cannot clinch the title next weekend.

The pressure on Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has eased significantly with that win. They head to Cardiff knowing a win over struggling Wales would give them a three-win Six Nations with two losing bonus points - a good return.

We'll be back with full coverage of that one. Meantime, thanks for your company, and enjoy what's left of your weekend.

Some more deeply encouraging numbers emerging from the Six Nations' post-match stats breakdown.

The tournament organisers have Scotland making 17 dominant tackles to France's seven, and eight turnover tackles to their opposition's tally of two. The Scottish tackle completion rate was just shy of 94%.

The line-out remains a bit shaky, with two squint throws and a couple of losses of possession - albeit one led directly to Stuart McInally's try.

But the scrum, spearheaded by Rory Sutherland and Zander Fagerson, is a real force. A perfect 10 out of 10 for Scotland on their own feed.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's the match report from our chief sports writer Tom English at Murrayfield after a momentous victory for Scotland and Gregor Townsend.

A tweet from former Edinburgh defence coach Omar Mouneimne - an appropriate summation of Scotland's recent travails?

Some questionable footwear on show as Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend addresses the media.

We'll have full reaction from Townsend online shortly.

Andy Nicol
Former Scotland scrum-half on BBC One

There's been a great deal of chat about Finn Russell's exile from the Scotland squad, but in his continued absence, both Adam Hastings and Stuart Hogg were excellent in the play-making department today.

Hastings beat four defenders, kicked well and had a big hand in both Sean Maitland tries.

Captain Hogg beat three defenders and ran for 75m with ball in hand, taking him past Ireland's Rob Kearney to second place in Six Nations history for metres gained.

John Barclay
Former Scotland captain on BBC One

Andy Nicol
Former Scotland scrum-half on BBC One

Stats guru Russ Petty with another corker

John Barclay
Former Scotland captain on BBC One

Andy Nicol
Former Scotland scrum-half on BBC One

Image source, Getty Images

So, against Ireland, England, Italy and France, this Scotland team have conceded a total of four tries.

In 2019, the same opposition put 15 past Scotland.

There are, of course, mitigating circumstances - for example, the dreadful weather in this year's Calcutta Cup rendered try-scoring opportunities remote - but that's still a huge improvement.

Steve Tandy, the new defence coach, will be thrilled.

France assistant coach Raphael Ibanez on BBC One: "Unfortunately we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win. Too many mistakes, we played almost 55 minutes with a man down, which is too much on the international stage."

On Mohamed Haouas' red card, the former hooker added: "That’s part of the process for a young player. It’s really disappointing. We know at this level you cannot react badly, this is what he did, and obviously we'll have a long talk and hopefully he can improve in that department.

"I haven’t spoken to him yet. Sometimes it’s much better as a director of rugby to let him go and talk maybe tomorrow about what happened. Because he wants to do his best for the team but he has to learn a few lessons."

Ibanez continued: "I don’t think the grand slam weighed heavily on the team. It’s down to Scotland, they played with a lot of intensity. And on our side, things went totally the opposite to how we wanted. That’s rugby, we are still a young team and we have got to learn from that."

Image source, Getty Images

Paul O'Connell
Former Ireland captain on BBC One

Our TV colleagues are discussing the almost interminable dirge of reset scrums. Gregor Townsend tells Sonja McLaughlan there should be a 30-second limit for getting the set-piece going.

Much of the period when Francois Cros was in the sin bin was gobbled up by reset scrums.

"You have to get them set quicker," the Scotland coach says "There should be a 30-second limit in the law book to get a scrum set. It took much longer than 30 seconds for each set.

"Why reset two or three scrums when you know there will be a penalty or free-kick? That cost us a little bit during the yellow-card period when there were three or four resets."

France did not wilt. They showed a courage and intensity where previous French teams might have copped a late thumping.

Their captain, Charles Ollivon, burled and powered over to give them a sniff of a losing bonus point.

This is the slightly bizarre try from Stuart McInally that put the game to bed - coming after the hooker's throw had been nicked.

Even a bonus-point win over Ireland in Paris next weekend will not be enough for France to clinch the championship, given England's final match with Italy has been postponed.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend on BBC One: "Initial thoughts are that we could’ve done better in the last 10-15 minutes, but I was very proud of how we started the game. We were very physical in the tackle, sharp when we had opportunities to move the ball.

"We had opportunities in the second half, but we stuck at it and it’s a very good win at home.

"The try just before half-time gave us a big boost and it was great to see that getting finished. We just felt with the pressure we could put on France in the second half, maybe we could have got one or two more. The weather didn’t help at times but they changed their tactics and were more adventurous. They’re a really dangerous team."