Wales 23 (9) France 27 (17)
by David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

A RESURGENT France won in Cardiff for the first time in 10 years on Saturday to keep their Grand Slam dream alive with a confident display that owed much to their new defensive coach Shaun Edwards.

But a petulant Welsh post-match reaction from coach Wayne Pivac and captain Alun Wyn Jones sought to lay the blame on the match officials, rather than poor on-field decision-making by Jones.

Wales also played for 20 minutes against 14-man France but still contrived to lose.

Pivac spurned the rugby convention of taking decisions on the chin and asserted that the officials got it wrong over what he felt was a deliberate French knock-on.

“There was the slap down when Ken Owens' pass was deflected by Paul Willemse. We had a good look at that and I think the officials may have got that one wrong.”

But what was not in dispute was Les Bleus scoring three tries inspired by man-of-the-match fly-half Romain Ntamack.

Wales had moved into an early lead in the second minute from a Dan Biggar penalty.

But France blasted back minutes later as they breached the Welsh defence with a well-taken try by full back Anthony Bouthier.

In a worrying scene, winger George North lay prone and was taken off early in the first half and failed head injury assessments. After suffering many concussions in his playing career, the rugby world will hope North makes a full recovery.

France moved a further three points clear as their attacking maul was illegally blocked by Wales, with Dillon Lewis costing his side the three points.

France were denied an immediate response to a Welsh three-pointer as Gael Fickou had his try ruled out by the TMO after a forward pass was spotted.

Fly-half Biggar’s trusty boot kept a desperate Wales within touching distance of the rampaging Les Bleus.

Close to half time the Welsh captain had a rush of blood to the head after Les Bleus forward Greg Alldritt was sin-binned by referee Matthew Carley after too many French liberties. 

Jones opted for a scrum rather than the certain three point-penalty. A second French transgression with the clock three minutes into the red and Wales opted to scrum again instead of taking the points. 

Les Bleus were defending out of their skins and survived the five-minute battering at their try line.

Jones’s poor decision also meant that the sin-bin time was also run down to just a few minutes while Wales failed to score.

But the home side did come out firing in the second half and clawed their way to just one point behind after Lewis barrelled over for a short-range try after sustained pressure on the French line.

France are made of sterner stuff these days and scored their third try after Ntamack intercepted a wayward Welsh pass from centre Nick Tomkins to gallop over just moments after the Wales score.

Referee Matthew Carley warned Wales about the continual chatter from some of their players, particularly fly-half Biggar. Carley warned Wales that he would penalise them if they continued but failed to act on the threat.

French head coach Fabien Gauthie paid tribute to his defensive coach Edwards and his impact on Les Bleus.

“Our defensive effort was massive throughout the game. We are not talking about a Grand Slam as we have an immense game next away to Scotland,” Gauthie said.

The bigger talking point is how both Wales and England have managed to let the ex-rugby league immortal slip through their hands.

His instant impact at France has restored Les Bleus to credible title challengers.

Pivac declared that there was no need to panic after two straight losses and would not be making wholesale changes for the Twickenham encounter with England. 

“It’s about building, we created a lot of opportunities. I think we are heading in the right direction. It’s about taking those opportunities.”