PARIS (Reuters) – France ended a miserable Six Nations campaign with a 23-16 home win over Scotland on Saturday which was not sufficient to avoid finishing bottom of the table for the first time since 1999.

Les Bleus, who needed to win by a 17-point margin or by 16 points with two tries to finish ahead of Ireland, were scoreless at halftime but tries to Wesley Fofana and Maxime Medard helped them end a seven-match winless streak in the championship.

PARIS, March 16 (Reuters) – France ended a miserable Six Nations campaign with a 23-16 home win over Scotland on Saturday which was not sufficient to avoid finishing bottom of the table for the first time since 1999.

Les Bleus, who needed to win by a 17-point margin or by 16 points with two tries to finish ahead of Ireland, were scoreless at halftime but tries to Wesley Fofana and Maxime Medard helped them end a seven-match winless streak in the championship.

PARIS, March 14 (Reuters) – Nice are set to receive a huge boost in their surprise push for Champions League qualification with the possible return of talismanic striker Dario Cvitanich.

The Argentine, who has scored 12 league goals in 20 games, has been out for a month with a thigh injury and the club have been forced to rely on youngsters in his absence.

PARIS (Reuters) – It has long been part of cycling to see a well-drilled train leading out their team’s top sprinter in a stage finale but Team Sky are taking things to a new level by stamping their authority from the start, even when there is a mountain to be climbed.

Supremely conditioned, extremely well-organised and slavish followers of their power meters, Sky leave nothing to chance.

NICE, France (Reuters) – Britain’s growing cycling culture has helped to globalise the sport while keeping it close to its European roots, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said.

“Globalisation is necessary but we need to respect the roots of cycling,” Prudhomme told Reuters in an interview after the fifth stage of the Paris-Nice race.

NICE, France (Reuters) – Britain’s growing cycling culture has helped to globalize the sport while keeping it close to its European roots, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said.

“Globalization is necessary but we need to respect the roots of cycling,” Prudhomme told Reuters in an interview after the fifth stage of the Paris-Nice race.

NICE, France (Reuters) – Cycling’s new generation of riders are unfairly burdened with the fallout of the Lance Armstrong era but the sport has to confront its past if it is to finally kill off its doping culture, according to David Millar.

Speaking to Reuters after the fifth stage of Paris-Nice in a gloomy hotel lobby, the doper turned anti-doping campaigner explained the revelations belonged to a past that cycling had to face.

LA MONTAGNE DE LURE, France (Reuters) – Australian Richie Porte emerged as Team Sky’s third man when he claimed the overall lead on the Paris-Nice race with an impressive victory in the fifth stage on Friday.

Porte held off American sensation Andrew Talansky’s repeated attacks in the final climb to La Montagne de Lure before his only acceleration left the Garmin-Sharp rider stuck on the tar.

PARIS (Reuters) – Questions remain as to how good Paris St Germain are after the big-spending Ligue 1 leaders enjoyed a relatively easy ride into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

PSG reached the last eight for the first time in 18 years, squeezing past Valencia 3-2 on aggregate with a 1-1 home draw on Wednesday having only for about 10 minutes looked in danger of being knocked out.

PARIS, March 7 (Reuters) – Questions remain as to how good Paris St Germain are after the big-spending Ligue 1 leaders enjoyed a relatively easy ride into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

PSG reached the last eight for the first time in 18 years, squeezing past Valencia 3-2 on aggregate with a 1-1 home draw on Wednesday having only for about 10 minutes looked in danger of being knocked out.