RBS Six Nations: France beat Wales 26-20 in Cardiff to maintain Grand Slam ambitions

Wales 20 (0)
France 26 (20)

France maintained their Grand Slam hopes with a 26-20 victory against Wales in Cardiff on Friday night.

'Les Bleus' waltzed into a 20-0 lead at half-time before withstanding a typical Welsh fightback in the second half to record a third successive win for the first time under head coach Marc Lièvremont.

While the match never reached the hoped for 'classic' status, it was a gripping encounter that brought full volume from the home crowd as it roared on the Welsh during their second-half surge. Memories of their incredible late rally against the Scots sprang to mind, but France are a very different proposition to Andy Robinson's outfit and the championship favourites had too much savvy to let this one slip - even after scrum-half Morgan Parra was sin-binned for a professional foul.

Try as they might the home side just couldn't undo their first half errors, with eager France capitalising to the max as they ran in two intercept tries. Brive winger Alexis Palisson was first to profit, sprinting in under the posts on seven minutes after grabbing hold of James Hook's floated pass to Jamie Roberts. Parra eased over the conversion and went to add two 40m penalties as France eased 13-0 up, and the visitors capped an excellent first period when fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc then juggled a Shane Williams attempted off-load before running in for try number two with the last move of the half.

Parra's conversion made it a scarcely believable 20-0 to France but a Welsh revival was always likely to follow. Warren Gatland clearly had words during the interval and the home side re-emerged with vim in the second-half, upping the pace and trying to force the French into previously unseen errors.

The mounting pressure resulted in two Stephen Jones penalties, but Lee Byrne's wasteful missed touch from inside France's 22 proved costly. Wales did eventually get their try, with Lee Halfpenny roaring through after an inch-perfect pass from Shane Williams. Jones kicked the conversion to narrow the gap back to seven points and France were further undone by Parra's yellow card. But Wales spurned a golden opportunity to equalize soon after when Jamie Roberts opted to go alone despite Hook being on his shoulder, and France managed to weather the storm.

Team discipline returned just in time and the endless penalties dried up as captain Thierry Dusautoir continued to lead by example as he hurled himself at anything red. Number eight Imanol Harinordoquy was also immense as the French regrouped up front and gained valuable possession.

It was then the turn of Welsh desperation to prove costly as replacement fly-half Frédéric Michalak and Parra added a penalty apiece, with Williams' late-late try no more than a consolation as Wales at least saved losing 13-26. It was a marvelous solo effort nonethless - and earned Williams a new Welsh record for championship tries as he celebrated his 33rd birthday with his 50th score in all.

But the real winners were France, now unbeaten in three rounds of this year's championship after adding victory in Cardiff to their previous win in Edinburgh (9-18 against Scotland) and Paris (33-10 against Ireland). Next up is Italy - again in Paris - before a potential championship and Grand Slam showdown against England in the French capital.

Wales
Tries: Halfpenny, S Williams
Convs: S Jones (2)
Pens: S Jones (2)

France
Tries: Palisson, Trinh-Duc
Convs: Parra (2)
Pens: Parra (3), Michalak

Wales starting XV: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), James Hook (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Richie Rees (Cardiff Blues); Paul James (Ospreys), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Cardiff Blues), Deiniol Jones (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), Ryan Jones (Capt, Ospreys)
Subs: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Rhys Gill (Saracens), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues), Mike Phillips (Ospreys), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), Tom Shanklin (Ospreys)

France starting XV: Clément Poitrenaud (Stade Toulousain), Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Alexis Palisson (Brive), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Capt, Stade Toulousain), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Métro 92), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne).
Subs: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Stade Toulousain), Sébastien Chabal (Racing-Métro 92), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont Auvergne), Frédéric Michalak (Stade Toulousain), David Marty (Perpignan), Marc Andreu (Castres).