Wales (7) 12 France (26) 54
by DAVID NICHOLSON 
at the Millennium Stadium

FRANCE continued their march towards a Six Nations Grand Slam as they dismantled Wales in Cardiff this afternoon.

It’s eight defeats in row against France and Wales have not beaten Les Bleus since the 2019 World Cup quarter-final in Japan.

The two sides have played 106 times since the first game in 1908 with France’s victory edging them in front 52 to 51 wins and three draws. 

Wales head coach Steve Tandy had his head in his hands at the end of the first half after lock Adam Beard fluffed an attempted kick and the ball was seized by fly-half Matthieu Jalibert to score a simple try.

Despite a 19-point half-time lead the home side’s performance was much improved, with a better set piece with the line-out working and the scrum reasonably secure.

Tandy had made four changes to his XV and Wales looked more secure, and their discipline was much improved with all 15 players remaining on the pitch.

But the Welsh kicking and chase was again poor enabling Les Bleus to launch wave after wave of attacks.

France scored their first try after just 90 seconds with centre Emilien Gailleton going over after a typical piece of Antoine Dupont magic.

The French captain and scrum-half was at the centre of all the French tries, and Wales struggled to contain him.

But in a moment of redemption after Wales failure to tap and go last week the men in red tapped a penalty and forward Rhys Carre put the home side on the board.

Wales finished the opening 40 minutes with a 12-phase attack, but coughed up possession by conceding a penalty.

France were guilty of playing champagne rugby in the first half and made mistakes, but the forwards came out in the second half and rumbled a maul over for a try with Julien Marchand dotting the ball down.

Moments later the French backs turned defence into attack and speeding winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey sped off and fed the ball to Theo Attissogbe to put Les Bleus on 40 points.

Attissogbe got his hat-trick minutes later after man-of-the-match Jalibert spotted him on the wing and kicked across for a try.

Wales continued to seek a try and Mason Grady managed to get their second try, and, despite the one-sided scoreboard, this was a better performance from the men in red.