Dupont stars as France down Scotland in RWC warm-up

Standout halfback Antoine Dupont has returned to the side and starred as France rallied and then held on to beat Scotland 30-27 in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match.

Scotland scored three straight tries to claw back from 27-10 down to tie the scores with seven minutes left, thanks to winger Kyle Steyn's second try. Five-eighth Finn Russell missed the conversion and paid for it when France fullback Thomas Ramos nailed a last-minute penalty.

No.10 Romain Ntamack scored France's first try near the end of the first half and winger Damian Penaud dived into the left corner shortly after the restart, with Dupont setting up both.

Flanker Charles Ollivon's try came moments after Penaud's effort. Following a superb break from inside the half, Dupont and Ramos combined to send him through.

Last weekend, Scotland rallied from 21-3 down with 14 men to defeat France 25-21 at Murrayfield.

If that was a largely second-string France side, this was more like the full-strength team which coach Fabien Galthie expects to pick at the World Cup and Les Tricolores bounced back from 10-3 down.

Scotland took the lead after five minutes through Steyn's converted try at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne, which hosts matches during the World Cup.

After halfback Ali Price was sin-binned in the 29th minute, France quickly made the extra man count when Dupont fed Ntamack, who dummied a pass before darting inside and Ramos converted to make it 13-10.

The second half saw Scotland getting overwhelmed and Ntamack had another try chalked off for a knock-on.

But Scotland winger Duhan Van der Merwe was left unmarked to touch down in the corner to make it 27-15 in the 63rd, with Russell missing the conversion.

Russell slotted over from close range just minutes later after flanker Rory Darge barged over, bringing the Scots within five points with 10 minutes left.

French fans were sweating when Steyn collected a kick ahead and touched down, but Ramos sent them home happy.

Three-time runners-up France open the World Cup against three-time champions New Zealand at Stade de France on September 8.

Scotland start their campaign against defending champions South Africa in Marseille two days later.