France coach Bernard Laporte, who was taking charge of his last Six Nations game at the helm of Les Bleus, had nothing but praise for his team's achievements.

He said: "I am stunned, even dazzled by the way the team played and managed to hold themselves together, especially at the end.

"It is a culmination of a whole week of hard, hard work. I commend the mindset of our players.

"It was one of our best matches for a long time, although there is no such thing as a perfect match.

"We started to gain positive momentum, and the attitude of the players made the difference.

"The crowd were great as well. The public are ready for the World Cup - they were on the same wavelength as the players.''

Raphael Ibanez, who has captained France throughout the Six Nations in the absence of injured Fabien Pelous, admitted Ireland's massive win in Italy before France's game had given his side some thinking to do.

"We were mindful of their result,'' said the Wasps hooker. "We knew what we had to do. But it was not a conventional match format.

"We tried to build our victory one step at a time. We got off to a bad start (Walker scored a try in the third minute for the Scots), but we tried to free up our playmakers from then on.

"But all the team showed they are true rugby players.''

Ibanez added: "We have to say something about the Scottish.

"In the last 10 minutes, they really went for it. So we have to thank Chris Paterson for helping us win the Six Nations!''

France team manager Jo Maso hailed his side a "world-class team'' after seeing them win their fourth Six Nations title in four years.

The French were unstoppable going forward and went over six times - through Imanol Harinordoquy, Yannick Jauzion, David Marty, Cedric Heymans, Olivier Milloud and, dramatically, Vermeulen.

It meant they finished the tournament having won four of their five matches, last weekend's 26-18 defeat to England at Twickenham the only blot on their copybook.

"We wanted to win, and that's what we did,'' said Maso.

"It's a great day for French rugby. We said the match against England should be a source of learning.

"It's not easy to win the tournament. But we have won three of the last four, and that makes us a world-class team.

"Champions are champions in a moral snese. They hold themselves in dignity.

"We weathered a storm in England, but this team has gone on to hold their own.''

Maso believes winning another Six Nations will boost the team heading into the World Cup later this year, which is being held on French soil.

"By September, we will be ready to do our best,'' he added.

"The World Cup will be extraordinary. We are going to be tough to beat.''

Scotland coach Frank Hadden praised his players for their "gutsy'' display, despite seeing them go down to a 46-19 defeat to France.

Hadden saw his side score three tries, through Nikki Walker, Sean Lamont and Euan Murray at the Stade de France.

But they could not suppress the French, who went over six times themselves to all but seal their fourth RBS 6 Nations Championship in six years.

"We are disappointed with the result,'' he said. "We came here to win, although the better side won on the day.

"We had very relatively little to play for in this game, but we put in a gutsy performance. We ran out of steam, though, in the second half.

"Some of the French scores were fortunate but they deserved to win and to win the championship.''

Hadden was happy with his side's tournament as a whole, even though they finished with a 1-4 record in the end.

"Before the start of the Six Nations, we had 14 injuries and everyone thought we were in disarray,'' he added.

"We ended up coming here disappointed we did not have a chance to win the title.

"We should have won our last two home games (against Italy and Ireland) and that would have given us a chance of winning the tournament.''

Scotland decided not to kick for goal three times in the dying stages, preferring instead to go for tries.

They ended up going over, through Murray, just before the start of injury time.

Knocking over all the penalties on offer, however, could have ruined the title hopes of France, who needed to win by 24 points to overtake Ireland in the table.

Captain Chris Paterson does not regret the strategy adopted by his side.

"We just concentrated on ourselves,'' said the full-back, who booted four points on the day.

"I was unaware how many points France needed to score. I was just thinking about the development of our team.

"We wanted to score tries for the benefit of the Scottish team.''

Elvis Vermeulen scored the winning try for the French deep into injury time, although it needed the say-so of the video referee before it was awarded.

Paterson added: "I didn't see the grounding. One or two of our guys thought they had got the hands under the ball.

"The referee said he was sure it was a try so we accept it.''