The hosts must conjure the spirit of their last title triumph, 27 years ago, when the sides meet at Murrayfield
E
ven now, 27 years on, Kenny Logan still remembers how good it felt. Back in 1999, as this year, Scotland were title outsiders before a crunch fixture against the defending champions, France. Beneath a bright blue Parisian sky they gloriously ripped up the script with five first-half tries and, thanks to England’s late implosion against Wales at Wembley a day later, hoisted the trophy at Murrayfield in front of 15,000 fans on the Monday.
For Logan, who landed five successful kicks on that famous afternoon, the timeless lessons of the story are twofold. The first is that Scotland have failed to win the tournament since; and the second is that, at times like this, fortune favours the brave: “When we went to France that year we took the game to them. That’s what Scotland will do this weekend – and probably do it better than we could.”
It should be stressed that Scotland will also be encountering a more dangerous French side on Saturday. So far the unbeaten visitors have scored 18 tries in three games, many of them on the counterattack from their own half. Beat Scotland with a try bonus point on Saturday and the title will be theirs with a round to spare, regardless of what transpires in their final game against England at the Stade de France.
