Defence coach Shaun Edwards admitted last Friday’s defeat to Ireland was the worst performance he’d been involved in since he joined the France staff four years ago.  

France conceded five tries as Ireland ran out 38-17 winners in Marseille, and even a week on, Edwards was clearly angered by aspects of his team’s performance.  

The former Wales defensive guru said he expects his side to respond against Scotland.  

“We need to give a better account of ourselves in attack, defence, our kicking game, the set-piece.  

“We know we’re up against a formidable opponent in Scotland, who are ranked in the top five in the last 12 months.  

“We’re in for a tough game but we just want to give a better account of ourselves and obviously a victory would be nice as well.” 

READ MORE: France v Ireland talking points

He said the red card to Paul Willemse was not a factor in a poor all-round display, adding he felt France played better once they had gone down to 14 men.  

He said: “I don’t think we started the game too well. We threw an interception in the first two minutes and that seemed to continue for the first half. I thought we improved in the second half.  

“The fact we scored two tries against a fantastic Ireland defence shows that if you can have the ball in the opposition 22, it is very difficult for the defence to keep teams out, even if you have only got 14 players.  

“For us, dominating field position tomorrow is a big concentration."  

Asked if he was angry about the French display in round one, Edwards added: “I am normally angry when we lose.  

“It means a lot to me, and I know how much it means to the France supporters.

"As I said, in the last four years we have a 75% win ratio, 80% sometimes. It is the only time I feel we did not perform anywhere near the level we normally do.” 

Looking at tomorrow's opposition, Edwards put Wales' second half turnaround partly down to an "avalanche" of penalties against Scotland. 

"That makes it extremely difficult to get up the other end and score points," he added. 

He does not want to see a repeat performance at Scottish Gas Murrayfield tomorrow.  

“We haven’t played so poorly in the last four years. We're here to improve tomorrow and we can’t wait for the game to begin.”