Wales 24-45 France 
By David Nicholson 
at the Millennium Stadium

WALES are staring down the barrel of the Six Nations wooden spoon as they lost again at home to France today in a thrilling game of attacking rugby.

Head coach Warren Gatland will not be pleased with how his side lost impetus in the second half and gifted France the victory.

But he will be happy at how his young and inexperienced players attacked Les Bleus and scored three tries before finally succumbing in the second half.

Wales were behind by three points at half time and raced out of the blocks for centre Joe Roberts to score a try to regain the lead.

But that was the last time Wales scored as a ruthless French side took successive scrums five metres from the Welsh try line.

The relentless pressure broke the home team and both Georges-Henri Colombe and Sebastien Taofifenua went over for tries.

A final twist of the knife saw Maxime Lucu score to take the score to a 21-point winning margin.

This was breathless rugby at the Millennium Stadium with eight tries to keep the spectators happy.

Both sides were hunting some fluency and form but France ended the game back to their imperious best with some beautiful passing skills.

Wales took the lead in the opening seconds as a mistake by Les Bleus full-back Leo Barre had Wales pouring forward to earn the penalty.

The visitors drew level after a multiphased attack drew a penalty from a scrambling Welsh defence.

We were still in the first 10 minutes when the ball bobbled loose and spring-heeled winger Rio Dyer was the quickest to react to pick up the ball and run through a flat French defence for the opening try.

The visitors regained the lead after a penalty and a try for centre Gael Fickou, but Wales struck back with scrum-half Tomos Williams bursting through from a pass from centre Owen Watkin.

Les Bleus defence coach Shaun Edwards will berate his side for the sloppiness of their defence against some opportunistic Welsh attacks.

But this was end-to-end rugby, both sides looking to move the ball and run at their opponents.

France have been listless since their quarter-final loss in their home World Cup and without their inspirational scrum-half Antoine Dupont.

But in a warning to England for next weekend’s showdown in Lyon, France finished this game well on top with some outrageous basketball skills on offer galvanising Les Bleus’ attacking game.

Wales are at home to an in-form Italy but will take some heart from their attacking play today. However their defence needs some work — Gatland will not want his season of rebuilding to end with five losses.