Williams believes the French were the form team going into last years World Cup in Australia, where they were defeated in the semi-finals by eventual winners England, and described their displays since that showpiece tournament as ''simply outstanding''.

Meanwhile, Williams new-look team crashed to their third consecutive defeat since he took over from Ian McGeechan when they went down to lowly Italy 20-14 in Rome 10 days ago.

But Williams insists they are remaining positive despite repeating the claim that they are only at the start of a long-term process of rebuilding Scottish rugby.

He said: It will be a very, very difficult game. I actually thought the French were the best team leading into the World Cup.

The best teams dont always win and England were the most thorough, the most disciplined, but the French were the most creative and their form since the World Cup has been simply outstanding.

The enormity of the task is something we are looking forward to. Its a tremendously exciting week, to get the chance to get back home to Murrayfield, and within the camp theres a great excitement about taking them on.

But we also have to look at the reality of where we are and, as Ive said from the second I took over, its a long haul we are on. We have to acknowledge where we are and until we see the problems, we cant go forward.

I know there were some comments about the players efforts in the last game. I thought our players tried very, very hard.

Defence is a great barometer of the efforts of the team and we defended very, very well in that game. What we didnt do we are addressing.

The future for this team is very positive, the future for this group of players is extremely positive. They are a very, very hard-working and dedicated group and Im enjoying working with them.

But we have to acknowledge that if we dont get our processes correct on the field then the results will not go our way. If we get the processes right this week against France well win, if we dont well come second. Thats international rugby, its very unforgiving.