Reds cards have made a telling return to Guinness Six Nations in the final game of the third round, playing a major role in proceedings in France and Scotland’s crunch match in Paris.

Scotland endured a torrid start at Stade de France and trailed 19-0 after 20 minutes of the match, which already had brought a red card for both teams.

Romain Ntamack opened the scoring with a fifth-minute try, before Scotland was reduced to 14 men, when Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist was sent off after he received a red card for a reckless shoulder-to-face tackle on France’s Anthony Jelonch.

Gilchrist’s actions were deemed a dangerous and intentional infringement of the rules by referee Nika Amashukeli and his fellow match officials, resulting in his expulsion from the game. His red card proved to be a turning point in the match, as Scotland struggled to cope with being a man down.

Gilchrist sees red just 7 minutes into their big clash against France, a tough task ahead of them 😬#SixNations2023 #FRAvSCO pic.twitter.com/jfdQNt6pb0

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 26, 2023

As former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton told ITV from pitchside: “Hamish Watson couldn’t even look at him” when he was forced off, as Scotland brought on Jonny Gray to make up the tight five numbers.

The French capitalized on the extra man, as Ethan Dumortier notched their second try in the eighth minute.

🇫🇷😍 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐫𝐞 #XVdeFrance 💪#FRAECO #SixNations #NeFaisonsXV pic.twitter.com/4RZGcbJ9aF

— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) February 26, 2023

Just a few minutes later, France’s Mohamed Haouas would follow him to the dugout. 

The hot-headed tighthead was shown a red card for a dangerous hit on Scotland nine Ben White. Haouas was deemed have led with the head at a ruck. He made contact with White’s face as he defended the line.

Amashukeli initially felt there was a low degree of danger but was talked around by TMO Ben Whitehouse.

It was the first time that two red cards have been shown in the first half of a Guinness Six Nations match.

It didn’t slow France down, though, as Thomas Ramos seized on a loose pass from Finn Russell to score.