Following their 18-9 defeat to France at Murrayfield, Scotland captain Chris Cusiter spoke of his disappointment following his side's failure to take chances against their superior French opponents. There were positive elements of the Scottish play, however after falling behind in the first half they never managed to claw their way back into the match.

"We played a lot of good attacking rugby. We looked dangerous at times, but we need to work on our finishing and that was the difference between the two. We've got a lot ot work on, but we've got a lot to build on.

"Elements of our attack were excellent, but that's Six Nations rugby."

Two first half tries from French centre Mathieu Bastareaud left Scotland chasing the game and the Scottish scrum half was full of praise for thier French counterparts, but adamant that had Scotland done the basics right the result could have been different.

"The better team won. They executed their chances. They're a good side, but it all came down to those two tries. We can't expect to win if we give away an easy 12 points like we did.

"We conceded two tries in the first half and left ourselves to much to do."

Scotland came out of the blocks strongly and broke the French backline on a number of occassions through Sean Lamont and Johnnie Beattie, but all too often the final pass didn't find its intended receiver and Scotland were driven back into their own half without scoring.

"We were going for offloads that weren't on and at times we came away with nothing instead of seven or at least three points."

With Scotland trailing at half time, their defensive effort in the second forty minutes was admirable, but ultimately they were left chasing the game as France controlled the clock and more importantly, the scoreboard.

"In the second half our defence was outstanding. We are causing teams problems, but we need to take that next step. You can't get away with two big mistakes like that."
 
Scotland travel to Cardiff to face Wales in just six days time and Cusiter added that there was plenty of room for improvement in the Scots' performance.

"We have to put things right against Wales. We have to be more composed in the opposition 22."