Scotland beat France but injuries a concern for Townsend

Scotland gained a measure of revenge over France by fighting back to win 17-14 at a sold out Twickenham, but there are injury concerns for Gregor Townsend ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

Les Bleus hammered their Six Nations rivals 32-3 in Nice last weekend, but squandered an 11-point lead to suffer a defeat four weeks before the World Cup starts in Japan.

Lock Sam Skinner, wing Tommy Seymour and debutant back-row Blade Thomson came off with injuries in a much improved display from Scotland and Townsend will be hoping for positive news on the trio.

Damian Penaud scored a first-half double, but Sean Maitland’s converted try and a Greig Laidlaw penalty reduced the deficit to four points at half-time.

FULL-TIME | After a breathless final few minutes the ball comes out the back of the scrum and Russell belts the ball into the crowd. It’s a home win for Scotland! #AsOne pic.twitter.com/AA12qqoEa3

— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) August 24, 2019

Chris Harris charged over for the only try of the second half and France were unable to respond as Scotland made amends for a drubbing a week earlier.

Peter Horne gifted France an early try with a stray pass which the alert Penaud intercepted and darted away to touch down and the wing added another after Laidlaw’s penalty had Scotland on the board.

Influential fly-half Finn Russell got Scotland ticking and set up Maitland for Scotland’s opening try with a long, inviting pass just before the break.

Thomson went off after taking a bang to the head and Seymour also underwent a head injury assessment before centre Harris crashed over following bulldozing work from the forwards, with Laidlaw adding the extras.

Scotland saw out the victory, but the sight of Skinner being helped off would have been alarming for head coach Townsend.

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