France hang on and edge closer to Slam glory

Wales 20 France 26

The unbeaten tournament favourites will secure a first championship clean sweep since 2004 if they win their remaining two games against Italy and England in Paris next month.

Les Bleus look unstoppable, emphasised by an irresistible first-half display that took them 20 points clear through tries by wing Alexis Palisson and fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc.

Scrum-half Morgan Parra added 13 points from the boot, while Wales could only manage two Stephen Jones penalties during the third quarter.

Comeback kings Wales, who scored 17 points in injury-time to beat Scotland 13 days ago, threatened another remarkable revival when wings Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams posted second-half tries – but France sealed success through a late Frederic Michalak penalty and further Parra strike. Williams’ magical solo score took him to 50 for Wales and broke Gareth Edwards’ Welsh record of 18 touchdowns in the Five/Six Nations.

France’s triumph keeps alive the prospect of a March 20 Grand Slam shoot-out when England arrive at Stade de France. Even though Wales stepped up a gear in the second period, they found France too composed, organised and powerful as they claimed a third successive win for the first time during coach Marc Lievremont’s two-year reign.

Lievremont’s Wales counterpart Warren Gatland, however, admitted his side had to stop “pressing the self-destruct button” after last night’s result.

“I’m proud of the second-half performance,” Gatland said. “We were 20 points down, victims of our own intercepts, and we could have given it away but I’m proud of what we did in terms of coming back.

“The guys dug deep and put on a really good display in the second half.

“France never really threatened our line, they got two intercepts and kicked four penalties but never really got into our 22. We just have to stop pushing the self-destruct button. We have a few things to work on to make sure we don’t make critical mistakes, but if we hadn’t conceded soft tries in the first half it was a game for us to win.”

The atmosphere crackled under a closed roof for Britain’s first Friday night Six Nations Test, but notorious poor starters Wales soon found a predictable self-destruct button.

James Hook’s speculative pass to his centre partner Jamie Roberts went straight to Palisson, and he sprinted over unopposed from the halfway line for a score that Parra converted.

Wales struggled to cope with Les Bleus’ physical intensity, illustrated when their star centre Mathieu Bastareaud powered through his opposite number Roberts. It resulted in Parra kicking his second penalty either side of Wales lock Jones limping off to be replaced by Newport Gwent Dragons forward Luke Charteris.

Wales had a mountain to climb at 13-0 adrift, and it soon became a case of Shane or bust.

Wing wizard Williams represented Wales’ best – and seemingly only chance – of breaking down a mighty French defence.

But one from one of his trademark touchline darts, France scored a critical second try as half-time approached.

Williams was tackled, and after he lobbed the ball back to his supporting team-mates, it ricocheted straight into Trinh-Duc’s hands and he easily finished off.

Parra’s second conversion gave the visitors a 20-point interval lead, leaving Wales to contemplate a damage-limitation exercise before Jones opened their account through a 46th-minute penalty before quickly adding a second.

And things got even better after 62 minutes when Williams appeared in midfield and rifled a scoring pass to Halfpenny. Jones’ conversion made it 20-13 and set up a pulsating finish.

Roberts then made a sparkling break to keep Welsh hopes alive, yet he failed to find one of his supporting runners and a golden chance went begging.

In truth, it summed up Wales’ night. A case of so near, so far, after once again leaving themselves with too much to do, although Williams provided one late flash of genius.

Scorers for Wales: Halfpenny, S Williams try each; S Jones 2 cons, 2 pens

Scorers for France: Palisson, Trinh-Duc try each; Parra 2 cons, 3 pens.

WALES: L Byrne; L Halfpenny, J Hook, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, R Rees; P James, H Bennett, A Jones; B Davies, D Jones; J Thomas, M Williams, R Jones.

Replacements: L Charteris for D Jones (27).

FRANCE: C Poitrenaud; J Malzieu, M Bastareaud, Y Jauzion, A Palisson; F Trinh-Duc, M Parra; T Domingo, W Servat, N Mas; L Nallet, J Pierre; T Dusautoir, J Bonnaire, I Harinordoquy.

Replacements: P Andrieu for Poitrenaud (77), D Marty for Bastatreaud (72), D Szwarzewski for Servat (51), F Michalak for Trinh-Duch (64), JB Poux for Domingo (55), S Chabal for Pierre (64).

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa).