'Scotland must find roar against France as World Cup looms'

Scotland suffered a 32-3 defeat to France in Nice last weekend

Test rugby is full of sharks. Scotland had better learn how to swim with them - and fast. Gregor Townsend has only two more Tests before he names his World Cup squad and only three more before the Irish start to loom large in Tokyo. Time is running out, as is patience.

After their travails in Nice, Scotland return to their relative comfort zone of Murrayfield for a rematch with the French on Saturday. Their home stadium has somehow taken on the status of a fortress despite the Scots losing three of their last four games there.

What seems certain is that they will play better than they did in France. It would be an achievement, of a kind, if they managed to play any worse.

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France are behaving strangely these days. During the Six Nations they used three different full-backs from the start, four different centre combinations, four different back-rows and having begun the championship with one set of half-backs they finished it with another. Five players who were in the first XV in their final game against Italy are not even in the 31-man squad for Japan, most of the absentees are selection issues rather than injuries.

And now? The same centres as last week, the same half-backs, the same wings, the same props, the same number eight. Something resembling a settled team. A hint of organisation. A suggestion in Nice that they might be about to get their act together. Nobody should bet the house on France just yet. Big performances away from home are not in their nature and just as we'll learn more about Scotland on Saturday we'll know more about France, too.

Since the last World Cup they've won only three Tests away from home, two against Italy and one against Argentina. That's the kind of team that Scotland needs to face right now as they try to pick themselves off the floor.

For Scotland, the signs from last weekend were not good. They lacked so many things, belligerence being one of the principal deficiencies. It should be the easiest thing to nail. Scrum, line-out, defence, attack, ruck, maul, discipline under pressure, when to kick, when to run, when to pass - the minutiae of a complex game-plan, that's the stuff that's tough. Rocket science can be made to look simple by comparison. Attitude is the simplest bit. Or it ought to be.

When Matt Taylor, Scotland's defence coach, admitted regret at not having "poked and prodded and fired up the boys more than we did" he was questioning the attitude of his players. Upon hearing him, the first instinct was to wonder why international players competing for places only a month away from the beginning of a World Cup needed to be poked and prodded in the first place.

"We just left it up to the players to get themselves in the right frame of mind," said Taylor. "Maybe with it being a warm-up game in a nice place like Nice we just assumed that level of intensity was going to be there and it wasn't."

If you believe that the performance was excusable since it was just the first hit-out of the season, then fair enough. If you're relaxed about the loss because it wasn't a first-choice Scotland on the pitch, then no bother. The reality, though, is that Saturday was not the beginning of a problem but the continuation of a problem.

Scotland have not won in five Tests. They've conceded 19 tries in those games, two to Wales, three to Ireland, four to France, five to England and five more to France last weekend.

It wasn't just in Nice that an opponent found it easy to break Scotland's defence. In the competitive battleground of the Six Nations only Italy have conceded more points and more tries than Scotland over the past two seasons. And it wasn't just in Nice that an opponent got the benefit of a soft Scottish start.

In their last 10 Six Nations games the Scots have conceded 12 tries in the opening quarter. Ireland have conceded three, Wales and England have conceded four, France have conceded five. It keeps happening.

They've been in numerous camps this summer. They'll have spoken about all of this, they'll have addressed it on the training ground and yet from the first attack in Nice, France scored. On occasion, a knife has a tougher job going through butter than an attacker has in slicing through the Scottish defence.

The rematch is an opportunity to regain some order and confidence. No slow start, no soft shoulders, no mental weakness, no malfunction out of touch, no yellow card, no mountain to climb on the scoreboard as there has been too often in recent months.

Scotland managed to come back from the dead at Twickenham, but miracles are called miracles for a reason. When Scotland start badly they usually tend to lose.

Townsend has made 14 changes, including making Greig Laidlaw his captain in the absence of Stuart McInally. It's a huge day for many of these guys and Laidlaw is no exception. McInally is a terrific player and, on form, one of the best hookers in the world, but Laidlaw is a more vocal and canny leader.

The problem with Laidlaw is that in order to lead he needs to be in the team and he's marginally behind Ali Price right now. If Laidlaw controls the show on Saturday and puts himself in the box-seat for the number nine jersey then there should be a debate around the captaincy issue. John Barclay also has a claim. In Nice, the Scots were passive, in word and deed. There wasn't a peep out of them. They need to roar again.

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There are other areas of major interest. If you assume that Duncan Taylor and Sam Johnson are on the plane to Japan already that leaves two more centre spots. Given his versatility, and his encouraging cameo against France, Rory Hutchinson is likely to be one of them. That leaves one more place between Chris Harris and Pete Horne, Saturday's midfield partnership, and Huw Jones.

Townsend likes Harris' defensive game, he likes Jones' attacking game and he likes Horne's rounded game and his experience. That last centre spot is up for grabs. At loosehead, as long as Gordon Reid comes through without having his rear-end handed to him on a plate by Rabah Slimani, then he becomes the second loosehead in Japan.

The picture will crystallise on Saturday. Scott Cummings has a chance to oust Ben Toolis. The young Glasgow lock brings something different. A bit of footwork, an ability to carry in behind defences and make an offload. Cummings has a real chance.

Behind him, Hamish Watson's attrition was one of the things that Scotland lacked in Nice. He's back and Scotland should be a whole lot better for his presence. There are currently eight back-rows competing for probably five places. The reports of Blade Thomson's work in training are so gushing that he's another certainty as long as he stands up straight on Saturday.

That leaves two. Jamie Ritchie tried his heart out in France and brings some hard edge. Ryan Wilson is a Townsend favourite, a clever player, a leader, but one who hasn't delivered his best stuff in a while. Magnus Bradbury is the other. Injured right now. Inconsistent when fit, veering from brilliantly effective to largely anonymous.

The likelihood is that come Saturday night Townsend will settle, if he hasn't already settled, on the final 31. Time is scarce for the guys on the knife edge - and for Townsend as he attempts to repair self-belief.