France landed the wooden spoon for the first time since 1999 despite beating Scotland 23-16 at the Stade de France on Saturday in their final Six Nations match.
Second-half tries by Wesley Fofana and Maxime Medard saw them to their first win of the tournament after trailing 6-0 at halftime.
France were on track to avoid the spoon before a late try by Scotland’s Tim Visser reduced the margin and left the French rock bottom because of a worse points difference to Ireland, who had earlier lost to Italy.
“We were controlling the game well but couldn’t get points on the board,” said inside centre Fofana.
“This has been a problem throughout the tournament — we have a good first half where we have the ball but can’t convert. In the second period, we succeeded in achieving what we had talked about.
“We were a little worried towards the end, but we are happy to have won the match.”
The French came into the tournament full of confidence and one of the competition favourites after wins over Australia and Argentina but opened their campaign with a loss to Italy before losing to Wales and England.