France look to improve

"The players were angry with themselves and disappointed, as they should be after such a poor game," Laporte revealed. "The England game was a decider and key players failed. We were ten metres away from the summit and we didn't reach it."

The French coach said the mental recovery had been a collective effort.

"We analysed the game through several video sessions, we talked about it a lot. The players were very responsible," he said.

"Now, the time of moaning is gone. I think the morale is high again. The players will enter Saturday's match with a strong will to win it and to win it with a wide margin.

With France, Ireland and England level after three wins and a defeat, the championship is likely to be decided on points difference.

France are on +42, Ireland, who play away in Rome, on +38 and England travel to Cardiff on +13. The French will have the advantage of playing after the Irish.

The French coach stated that underestimating the Scots would be a "deadly mistake" despite their dire record in Paris.

"They had mixed results this year but their defeat to Italy is misleading because they were down 21-0 after five minutes," he added. "They also stood up to England for an hour and to Ireland until the whistle, and they defeated Wales.

"We must not forget they beat us last year at Murrayfield and that our win at the Stade de France two years ago was not an easy one.

"To beat them, we'll have to be ourselves, and we were not ourselves at Twickenham. We have to play our true game and recover the momentum of our first three matches."