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France prepared for their 2020 Six Nations title shot by claiming a convincing 38-21 victory over Wales in Paris on Saturday night. DYLAN JACK reports.
Fabien Galthié’s team will host Ireland in the final match of the rescheduled Six Nations next Saturday.
France is currently in third place in the Six Nations table, with 13 points, while Ireland leads the ranking with 14 points after their bonus points win against Italy on Saturday. That essentially makes next weekend’s clash something of a finale, as both teams play for the title.
READ ALSO: Ireland hosted the Six Nations Grand Final
If France’s display against Wales is anything to go by, that game is bound to be insane, as Les Bleus lit up the Stade de France with enterprising rugby after falling behind early in the contest.
Wales started with the stronger of the two teams when they opened a 10-0 lead via a Leigh Halfpenny try in the first minute before Dan Biggar scored the conversion and his first penalty. France responded briefly when loose-headed prop Cyril Baille pushed his way over the line from close range, but Biggar kept the score going with his second penalty.
However, France landed a decisive blow just before the break when they began bringing Virimi Vakatawa into the game, with the outside center twice combining with scrum half Antoine Dupont to give the hosts a 21-13 lead at the break.
Biggar and Ntamack exchanged a penalty each early in the second half, but Biggar missed his next pair of attempts, which would have brought Wales back into the game. That turned out to be costly as Dupont made an excellent linebreak and passed inside his captain Charles Ollivon, who had a relatively comfortable lead to score.
Wales were briefly given hope of a comeback when replacement prop Nick Smith was pushed over the try line, but those hopes were quickly dashed by a moment of brilliance from Teddy Thomas as the wing mustered his own chip on the defense and splashed to put the game to bed.
France – Attempts: Cyril Baille, Antoine Dupont (2), Charles Ollivon, Teddy Thomas. Conversions: Romain Ntamack (5). Penalty: Ntamack.
Wales – Tries: Leigh Halfpenny, Nicky Smith. Conversions: Dan Biggar. Penalties: Biggar (3).
France – 15 Anthony Bouthier, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Vincent Rattez, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Grégory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon (c), 6 François Cros, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Bernard le Roux, 3 Mohamed Haouas, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Subs: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Romain Taofifénua, 20 Dylan Cretin, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Arthur Vincent, 23 Thomas Ramos.
Wales – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Cory Hill, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Rhys Carre.
Subs: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Seb Davies, 20 James Davies, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit.
Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images
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