​Ex-Howe of Fife player Matt Fagerson hoping to see Scotland finish rugby’s 2025 Six Nations on a high v France

The 26-year-old helped Scotland register their second win of this campaign against Wales on Saturday, by 35-29 at home at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, and he now wants to see them back up that result by claiming their first away win against the French since 2021.

Anything short of a win at the Stade de France, with kick-off at 8pm, would be likely to mean a fifth fourth-placed finish for Gregor Townsend since he took over from Vern Cotter as head coach in 2017.

The Scots are currently fourth in the table, on 11 points from four fixtures, three places and five points worse than off than their hosts, one point clear of second-placed England as they target their first championship title for 15 years.

Glasgow Warriors No 8 Fagerson, brought on as a 36th-minute replacement for injury-hit Rory Darge against the Welsh, would like to see his country get into winning ways and keep that up rather than pulling off the occasional upset but failing to follow them up.

“We’ve made statements in the past,” said the 54-times-capped back-rower. “We've won away in France, we’ve won away at Twickenham, we’ve won away in Cardiff, so we have had these big wins away from home, but in terms of backing it up, we had a good win at home against Wales and the game slipped away a little bit from us versus England but that was still a really good performance at Twickenham.

“It’s about being able to go game after game and be consistent in our performances, so I think a win next week would sort of really back that up.”

Perth-born Fagerson was one of three Howe old boys fielded against interim head coach Matt Sherratt’s visitors at the weekend, with Jamie Ritchie playing the full 80 minutes at blindside flanker and George Horne being brought on as a 56th-minute replacement for Ben White at scrum-half.

That followed another full shift for Ritchie at No 6 for the Scots’ 16-15 loss away to England on Saturday, February 22, with Fagerson joining him from the bench on the 56-minute mark, taking over from Jack Dempsey.

It was the other way round for Scotland’s 32-18 home loss to Ireland on Sunday, February 9, with Fagerson playing from start to finish and Ritchie being brought on for Dempsey on 61 minutes.

Both started for Scotland’s opening 31-19 victory hosting Italy on Saturday, February 1, with Fagerson going the distance and Ritchie being taken off on 50 minutes for Dempsey and Horne being brought on on 56 minutes for White.

Fagerson says he’s happy to help out however required, whether that’s as a substitute or a starter, saying: “We’ve got incredible competition through our back-row.

“Everybody’s pushing everyone. You saw the way that Jamie played last week. He was phenomenal down at Twickenham.

“The more competition we can have in our back-row the better, and in our squad.

“Moving onto the bench, it’s a different role – it’s about bringing energy.

“If I can help the team in any way doing that, I’m going to work to help the team through that.”

Ritchie, 28, is currently on 58 caps and Horne, 29, on 36.

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