Can Scotland's risk takers prevent Grand Slam procession for France?

From the mouths of the French - players, coaches, scribblers and commentators - come eulogies of what Fabien Galthie's Grand Slam seekers are all about.

We hear of a side that "brings joy and emotion", a group of boys, and men, who the youth of France now identify with like rarely before, an exhilarating outfit "no longer carried by a single man (the great Antoine Dupont) but by an entire generation".

Against Scotland there's Theo Attissogbe, the 21-year-old wing from Pau, Nicolas Depoortere, the 23-year-old centre from Bordeaux and his otherworldly team-mate, Louis Bielle-Biarrey - 24 tries in 25 Tests. In the back row, the wonderful Oscar Jegou, the 22-year-old from La Rochelle.

Galthie has given game-time to 10 players aged 23 and under in this Six Nations. No wonder the kids at home have warmed to this side.

With everything working like clockwork, he's clearly run out of things to complain about. Hence, his laughable swipe at the size of the Murrayfield away dressing room. Some of his players will have to change in the corridor, Galthie whinged. Throughout the rugby world, hearts bled for the man.

In Wales a few weeks back, France had 10,000 fans in the city. On Saturday, they're expecting 15,000 in Edinburgh - "a human tide" the newspaper Midi Olympique calls it.

They'll all be there to see if France can make it four wins out of four, to see if Bielle-Biarrey can score in his ninth consecutive Six Nations game, to see if Les Bleus can blow Scotland away with the same elan they showed when racing, with obscene haste, into a 29-0 lead after 47 minutes against Ireland, a 19-0 lead after 15 minutes against Wales and 19-0, again, after 29 minutes against Italy.

France are not just winning games, they're putting them to bed quickly. Last season they scored 30 tries - a Six Nations record - when winning the title, and this season they have 18 already.

A title isn't enough for them this time, though. It's a Grand Slam or disappointment. Galthie has a dream team but heaps of pressure, too. France expects and if the fans don't get what they want this time then Galthie might be in serious trouble.

They only have one Slam in 15 years, a pitiful total given the resources they have. Everything about them right now screams Slam, but on the pages of Midi Olympique, amid declaring this side as the most popular in the history of the national team, there is a stark warning: "The opportunity is real, the danger, too…"

In France, many see the Scotland game, and not England in Paris next weekend, as the greatest hurdle to the Slam. They respect Scotland because they play like France, or try to. When Scotland nail it, nobody is safe.

Townsend's team have won five of 13 games against France. That would have been six had it not been for the Sam Skinner try that wasn't given two years ago.

On top of that, they have put it up to Galthie's team in multiple contests. That's where the "danger" comes from. The French expect to win, but they have memories of many tough days against Scotland.

And edgy days, too. This is a meeting of two sides who want to play, who thrive on unstructured rugby from turnovers, who are at their very best when the game is fast and loose. And yet, there's a been a bunch of red cards.

Mohamed Haouas punching Jamie Ritchie in the chops in 2020. A Finn Russell forearm to the neck of Brice Dulin in 2021. Grant Gilchist and Haouas, again, in the same game in Paris in 2023. Zander Fagerson's high tackle in a World Cup warm-up game at Murrayfield.

Five really should have become six last season when Peato Mauvaka went head-first into Ben White, but he escaped with a yellow. So it's not all artistry when these two meet. Expect aggro, too.

France pretty much top all of the stats charts - tries scored, carry metres, points per entry into the opposition 22, line breaks, defenders beaten, offloads, dominant tackles, fewest penalties conceded.

They have not been behind for one second of this championship, scoring tries in minutes one, three, 10, 12 and 14. They explode into games, seizing on loose kicks and spilled balls in the air. Their impromptu attack is bewildering.

One second you're in no danger, the next you're done in a blizzard of movement, natural rugby players doing their thing. Their offloads and line-break numbers are hilariously good. The amount of scores they get off first phase must be shattering all Six Nations records. They are a special, special team.

How to stop them? Nobody else has come close, but, then, nobody else has delivered the kind of performance that Scotland are unquestionably capable of. The mad frenzy? They'll love that, so long as they're accurate, so long as they're ruthless.

France, like Scotland, are risk takers. Because they take chances, and not everything comes off all of the time, they have been turned over more often than any other team in the tournament. Ireland, Wales and Italy haven't been able to take advantage. Scotland can and Scotland must - or they'll go the same way as the other three before them.

As captain, Sione Tuipulotu, knows this better than anybody. France have eyes on a Slam but Scotland have weighty ambitions, too. Two wins out of three and second place in the table. This season could - could - be unforgettable.

"What an exciting opportunity we've created for ourselves here," said Tuipulotu on Friday. "I feel battle-tested leading into this fourth game. We're fully prepared. I'm really excited."

Dealing with these rapid French starts is the first job Scotland must get right. They could do with building a lead and stressing France, make them worry about the prospect of the Slam disappearing over the horizon. Spook them, in other words.

"The plan is to stay with them but also not to be uncomfortable if we're ahead as well," said Tuipulotu. "Not to be uncomfortable if we're behind. The job is to make France feel as uncomfortable as they can for as long as we can.

"For me, there is no game after this one. My mindset was the same when we were on a plane back from Italy. There was no game past England for me.

"France is the team that's in front of us and anything the week after that, we'll take care of that when we get there.

"The desperation of there not being another game after this one has worked for us up until this point, so there's not any point in us changing that mentality. There is no other game after this if we don't take care of this one."

Tuipulotu knows the implications of inaccuracy against this lethal French force. "They know how to punish you when you make errors, so we've got to be careful that we don't make too many of those," he said. "You do that, you control the game.

"We need to start fast, but against a quality team like that, starting fast isn't going to win you the game. We've got to start fast and finish fast as well. It's going to take an 80-minute performance, one that we know we're capable of."

The captain wants the Murrayfield crowd to be as hostile as possible. Loud and aggressive. All hands on deck for the freewheeling, free-scoring French, the ultimate test in northern hemisphere rugby - if they can manage to get out of their tiny dressing room, that is.