Hastings holds court as French wait for rain to stop

FIVE NATIONS' CHAMPIONSHIP: Scotland's Parisian escapade raises prospect of their upsetting the flawed trophy favourite

France 21

Scotland 23

Gavin Hastings could not remember what he was doing when Scotland defeated France at Stade Colombes in 1969. Neither he, nor anyone else who was fortunate enough to be in Paris over the weekend, will forget Scotland's epic victory at Parc des Princes. Hastings, who was seven years of age when Scotland last won in France, gave an immense performance on Saturday. "That was quite fun," he said.

Hastings, 33, almost certainly playing his last match in Paris, has thrown the Five Nations asunder. Grand Slam beckons for England? Scotland are also in the beckoning. Against Ireland at Murrayfield, Hastings put over six kicks out of eight and he did a lot better than that here. At a stage when bets were being taken on how many tries France would score, Hastings thumped over a penalty from three yards inside his own half and then, at the death, when France had retaken the lead, he scored a try under the posts and added the winning conversion.

The French resent the Hollywood influence and this scenario was equally unpalatable in that it looked as if it had been scripted by Universal Studios. Hastings, who scored 18 points, said: "I knew the guys were up for it. As a one-off it was as great an achievement as beating England in 1990. Near the end I said to the lads that we needed a try under the posts. Whether I believed we'd actually do it is another matter but when it comes off it's fantastic."

Dougie Morgan, the emotional coach who had tears in his eyes when he handed Hastings his jersey on the occasion of his record-breaking 53rd cap a fortnight ago, ran on to the field to embrace the captain. In the stand the Princess Royal, Scotland's patron, must have been tempted to throw her arms around her nearest neighbour, Edouard Balladur, the French Prime Minister. This was the first, and probably last, rugby match that enjoyed his attendance and political observers think the result could cost him the presidential election.

"We never gave in," Hastings said. "It was heroic." They didn't and it was. France, who have spent the last two weeks agonising over the defeat by England, will conduct a fresh inquest over the latest dbcle. To lose to England at Twickenham is at least predictable. To lose to Scotland in Paris might be put down to carelessness but however complacent or slipshod the French were, the Scots deserved their day in the sun.

High Balls and Happy Hours is the name of Hastings's book and there were plenty of those twixt Saturday night and Sunday morning. "Is this a disaster?" Pierre Berbizier, the French coach, was asked. "I don't understand," he replied. "It's good to have a laugh. After Twickenham there was a sense of frustration. This has gone a dimension higher. We can't see clearly any more. England gave us a lesson in rugby. Scotland gave us a lesson in simplicity. Who will win the championship? I don't give a damn. After the rain there is always the sun but it is raining very heavily on the French team at the moment."

As upsets go, this was world class. France had recently beaten South Africa and New Zealand; Scotland went nine matches without a win and after being stuffed by the Springboks at Murrayfield the team was virtually dismantled. It appears that the selectors have done an excellent job. Apart from the sterling work of the born again full-back, Scotland's forwards were a revelation. The feeling was that the front five would be under the cosh. They stood up remarkably well to opponents who were heavier and taller and behind them the back row performed even more heroically. Rob Wainwright (army doctor), Eric Peters (chartered surveyor) and Iain Morrison (money broker) were outstanding in attack and defence. As a unit they knit together better than something out of the woollen mill. And behind them was an inspired Bryan Redpath, 5ft 7in and an absolute terrier. And behind him was Craig Chalmers who did some dreadful things (do some work on the up and unders Craig) and some wonderful things. I doubt whether any pair of half-backs have tackled with more conviction than these two.

And outside Chalmers was Ian Jardine. Scotland won sufficient possession to make this an absorbing contest and whenever Chalmers launched Jardine on the crash ball the centre made ground, enabling the highbrow, high profile back row to get stuck in. Jardine took the bodyline approach (prompting the thought that the great Philippe Sella is past his sell-by date) but ended the match face down. He fractured a cheekbone (some SRU officials say it was the result of a punch) and will be out for about six weeks. Damian Cronin, who went off at half-time, will also miss the next match after rupturing an elbow tendon.

And outside Jardine was Gregor Townsend. He, like Chalmers, led a charmed life. Townsend, a stand-off by trade, represents the other half of Scotland's hard centre. After Philippe Saint-Andr had scored France's first try from a perfect grubber kick by Thierry Lacroix in the third minute and after Hastings had put over Big Bertha from his own half, Townsend made a half-break, released his skipper and about 70 yards later touched down under the posts.

Lacroix's kick for Saint-Andr was about the only decent thing he did and he and Christophe Deylaud may have played their last match for France. "Scotland dominated us physically and mentally," Saint-Andr said. "Wherever there were two Frenchmen there were four Scotsmen. I don't see why Scotland can't beat England."

If Chalmers was inconsistent, Deylaud was consistently poor and whenever he and Lacroix elected to kick instead of run they got the bird from the French supporters. Scotland led 13-5 at half-time and they and everybody else braced themselves for the onslaught. Guy Accoceberry (this man's a chemist so he should have been called apothecary) had about a five-man overlap when he sent in Jean-Luc Sadourny for a try in the 64th minute that made it 16-16.

With six minutes left Saint-Andr fielded a weak clearance from Townsend and brilliantly combined with Sadourny down the left touchline. Sheer magic: , Scotland 16. And behind the 14 blue shirts was Hastings who throughout the week had been saying that it was about time the 26- year sequence was broken. About time. They had two minutes left.

Scotland, awarded a penalty, ran it and Townsend, again breaking a tackle, heard his skipper screaming "inside, inside." Townsend, with a touch of legerdemain that came from Gala rather than Montferrand, flipped a stunning reverse pass to Hastings who ran down the middle of the Parc des Princes. He could have carried on down the Champs Elyses and underneath the Arc de Triomphe.

France: Tries St Andr 2, Sadourny; Drop goal Deylaud; Penalty Lacroix. Scotland: Tries Townsend, Hastings; Conversions Hastings 2; Penalties Hastings 3.

FRANCE: J-L Sadourny (Colomiers); P Bernat-Salles (Pau), P Sella (Agen), T Lacroix (Dax), P Saint-Andr (Montferrand, capt); C Deylaud (Toulouse), G Accoceberry (Bgles); C Califano (Toulon), J-M Gonzales (Bayonne), L Seigne (Brieve), O Brouzet (Grenoble), O Roumat (Dax), A Benazzi (Agen), L Cabannes (Racing Club), P Benetton (Agen).

SCOTLAND: G Hastings (Watsonians, capt); C Joiner (Melrose), G Townsend (Gala), I Jardine (Stirling County), K Logan (Stirling County); C Chalmers (Melrose), B Redpath (Melrose); D Hilton (Bath), K Milne (Heriot's FP), P Wright (Boroughmuir), D Cronin (Bourges), S Campbell (Dundee HSFP), R Wainwright (West Hartlepool), I Morrison (London Scottish), E Peters (Bath).

Referee: D McHugh (Ireland).