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Elvis' late try seals it for France

France rugby teammates -- from left, Cedric Heymans, Clement Poitrenaud, Serge Betsen and Vincent Clerc -- celebrate their victory against Scotland at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, France, on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Elvis Vermeulen's injury-time try won the Six Nations title for France in a 46-19 victory over Scotland on Saturday, after the championship looked likely to go to Ireland for the first time since 1985.

After Ireland beat Italy 51-24 in Rome, the French needed to beat the Scots by at least 24 points at the Stade de France to win the title for the second year in a row.

The French led by 25 points with three minutes to go before Scottish prop Euan Murray went over the French line to cut the lead to 20 points at 39-19. Before the Irish could celebrate, however, Vermeulen ended a spell of sustained French pressure by rolling over a pile of bodies for a try which was only awarded after the referee consulted the TV judge.

The result meant that only the English could stop the French winning the title for the second straight year. To do that, however, they had to beat the Welsh by 57 points in Cardiff but Brian Ashton's team lost 27-18 after another poor performance.

Despite such a close finish to the final minutes of its last game, the outcome gives French coach Bernard Laporte another Six Nations title in the year when his country hosts the World Cup.

"We wanted to win this match and we wanted to win the tournament," Laporte said. "We can be happy with the spirit over the seven weeks working together."

"We had to dig deep and show character. We had guys who were capable of being great champions and who reacted like true rugby players," he said.

Nikki Walker's early try for Scotland threatened an upset at the Stade de France and the French didn't go ahead until Imanol Harinordoquy's converted score in the 29th.

Yannick Jauzion's try was countered by a score by Sean Lamont in the final minute of the first half as the French went into the interval 20-14 ahead, still with much to do to capture the title.

Tries by David Marty, Cedric Heymans and Olivier Milloud opened up a 39-14 lead before Murray's score near the end threatened to hand top spot and probably the title to the Irish.

But Vermeulen's score in a tense finale sparked French celebrations while the Irish were unable to cheer a long awaited championship on St. Patrick's Day.

"It was a tough day," coach Eddie O'Sullivan said. "We entered our match knowing we had to win and hopefully by enough to win the championship. The only thing is we didn't know how much we had to win by. We just kept kicking on in the game and putting as much points on the board as we could."

"France did have a slight advantage in that they knew what they had to do to win the championship. That's the way the cookie crumbles. I thought Scotland were going to do us a favor there, but it wasn't to be because France scored right at the death," he said.

Girvan Dempsey and Denis Hickie scored two tries each and Simon Easterby, Gordon D'Arcy, Shane Horgan and Ronan O'Gara also crossed the line for Ireland in Rome. O'Gara also kicked a penalty and four conversions.

Italy captain Marco Bortolami and fullback Roland De Marigny scored late consolation tries, Andrea Scanavacca kicked a conversion, and Ramiro Pez kicked two drop goals and two penalties for Italy's 24 points.

There was no sign of the onslaught to come when the two drop goals and two penalties by Pez brought the Italians to within one point at 13-12 down after 29 minutes at the Stadio Flaminio.

But the Irish, knowing they needed a big margin of victory to stand any chance of capturing the title, repeatedly ripped through the Italian defense with D'Arcy, Dempsey, Horgan, O'Gara and Hickie all crossing the Italian line before the home team replied through Bortolami.

Hickie went over again with two minutes to go to stretch the Irish lead to 34 points before De Marigny's second try for the Italians in the third minute of injury time made the French task against Scotland a little easier.

After losses to Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy, the Welsh victory over England meant climbing away from last to leave Scotland with the "wooden spoon."

Gareth Jenkins team scored early tries through flyhalf James Hook and prop Chris Horsman but squandered a 15-0 lead as England hit back to draw level at 18-18 early in the second half.

Flyhalf Harry Ellis and winger Jason Robinson both scored tries for England but Hook landed two more penalties and a drop goal for a personal tally of 22 points to guide Wales to victory.

England wound up with three victories against two losses for a third place finish.
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