Winless Scotland scarcely had hold of the ball in the visitors half, let alone threaten to score as France looked to cement their position at the head of the RBS Six Nations table.

But stout defence somehow kept Les Bleus at bay following Magne’s early effort even when they were reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of full-back Derrick Lee.

Scotland started solidly and, aided by a knock-on from Yachvili and Chris Cusiter's excellent kick, forced their way to the French line.

Freddie Michalak cleared the danger, then the hosts messed up the line-out to give France the field position from which they launched the attack that gave them a sixth-minute lead.

Switching play left from a ruck just inside the Scottish half, Yannick Jauzion burst through a gaping hole in the opposition defence, delayed his pass to Magne perfectly and the burly back-row shrugged off Chris Paterson’s attempted tackle to score in the corner.

Yachvili missed the touchline conversion but for Scotland – and England – it was not the best of starts and got worse when the scrum-half slotted home an easy 20-metre penalty after the home defence had strayed offside.

Lee was sinbinned within a minute when he clearly took Yachvili out while the Frenchman was still in the air collecting a high kick on his own 22-metre line.

Scotland were struggling to contain Jauzion’s muscular presence and already the afternoon was taking on a familiar depressing feel.

Scotland survived another concerted assault on their own line when Julien Bonnaire, a brief blood-bin replacement for Serge Betsen, accidentally charged into one of his own men trying to peel off a ruck and conceded a scrum.

Such was the French forward strength though that they immediately won possession back, although yet again Scotland held out as Damien Traille knocked on.

Lee returned with no further damage to the scoreboard, a situation France would have rectified had Pepito Elhorga not fumbled Jauzion’s grubber kick as he dived over the try line.

Yachvili landed a 45-metre penalty to ease France further clear before Simon Danielli sparked Scotland into life shortly before the interval with an encouraging burst over halfway.

Simon Webster also embarked on a couple of hopeful charges, one of which left Michalak needing treatment but neither came close to hurting France where it really mattered.