“We didn’t get the breaks. We had the bad luck before half-time [with a disallowed try] and a mistake and they scored just after half-time.
“We were a bum cheek away from converting in the first half when Blair was just in touch. You need to have patience and accuracy and that was a little bit missing.”
Among the bad luck was the decision to only show a yellow card to hooker Peato Mauvaka for a headbutt on Ben White when the score was 10-0.
Russell slotted the subsequent penalty, but Townsend queried whether there should also have been a red card when it was reviewed in the bunker.
“I don’t know how it wasn’t raised to a red card,” he said. “It was after the whistle. So, if there was head contact and that was intentional, it shouldn’t be anything to do with the force that was involved.
“But whether that has had anything to do with the final result, who knows, because France deserved the win, deserve to be champions, they’re a quality side.”
Scotland opened their campaign with a staccato home win over Italy before being comprehensively beaten by Ireland a week later.
They dominated England for long spells at Twickenham but poor finishing and wayward goalkicking denied them a fifth straight Calcutta Cup triumph.
Last weekend, they raced into a 20-point lead against Wales but wound up winning by a single score after losing their way in the second half.
Asked if Scotland deserved to place higher in the table, Townsend replied: “No, if we don’t win when we have a lot of the game, that’s where we are going to finish.
“It is a very tough competition. Teams can’t play well every game and no-one won a Grand Slam.
“We are a quality side. It just didn’t go our way this year.”
