France run riot in eight-try mauling of sorry Wales

Guinness Six Nations

Wales 12-54 France

France kept alive their Grand Slam hopes with a convincing eight-try 54-12 hammering of woeful Wales who suffered a 13th successive Six Nations defeat.

Wing Theo Attissogbe scored two tries with further scores from Emilien Gailleton, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Matthieu Jalibert, Julien Marchand and Charles Ollivon – and 14 points kicked by Thomas Ramos.

The attendance of 57,744 at the Principality Stadium was Wales’ lowest crowd for a Six Nations game at the ground that was not played during the Covid era.

Wales responded with a first-half try from prop Rhys Carre and consolation score from Mason Grady but could not prevent a record win for France in Cardiff.

Les Bleus also scored a record amount of points in this fixture, beating the 51 they managed in 1998 at Wembley.

In the six games Wales have played under head coach Steve Tandy, they have now conceded 302 points and 42 tries.

Defending champions France remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament and will host Italy in Paris next Sunday.

Wales, who are staring at a third successive Wooden Spoon, have a six-day turnaround when they host a rejuvenated Scotland who beat England 31-20 on Saturday.

The attendance beat the previously smallest in this tournament in Cardiff which was 58,349 against Italy in 2002.

The lowest crowd against France had been the 63,208 that attended a Friday night match in 2022. Two years later the same fixture was held on a Sunday and attracted a crowd of 71,242.

With more than 50% of the Welsh Rugby Union’s turnover coming from money made from the men’s home internationals, the apathy is starting to take its toll with the game in disarray on and off the field.

Wales have lost 23 of the past 25 internationals, which included an 18-match losing sequence, with the only two Test victories in the past three years coming against Japan.

Their Six Nations losing streak now stretches back 1,072 days to when Wales beat Italy in Rome in March 2023.

This was a 10th successive Six Nations home defeat, with Wales not having won a match in Cardiff in the tournament for four years since defeating Scotland in February 2022. That was 1,464 days ago.

Wales were more impressive than the 48-7 loss to England in their opening match, but shipped 50 points at home for the fifth time in just under a year.

French fans were in fine voice from the outset and were rewarded in the second minute after fine work from Attissogbe and lock Ollivon released centre Gailleton to score.

After a long loose kick from Wales fly-half Dan Edwards, France attacked again with Jalibert’s cross-kick landing in Bielle-Biarrey’s hands as the wing scored a 23rd try in 24 caps.

Wales’ long kicking game was again punished when a Bielle-Biarrey burst set the platform for debutant Brau-Boirie to cross for a classy try as France raced into 19-point lead in 15 minutes.

An Ellis Mee break almost from the restart provided Wales with the first period of pressure.

After France had been penalised, Carre powered over from a well-worked short-range penalty move with Edwards converting.

Carre had been brought into the Wales front-row to provide more power, alongside fellow prop Tomas Francis, who was making his first Six Nations start for almost three years.

The outrageous offloading game of France was almost rewarded with a try for wing Attissogbe, following a clever Dupont chip kick but it was ruled out for offside.

Masterful France captain Dupont again glided through the Welsh defence but centre Brau-Boirie lost possession with the try-line beckoning.

Wales lock Adam Beard, who plays for Montpellier, had a moment that had home coach Tandy fuming and handed the bonus-point try for France.

After a thundering Olly Cracknell tackle and subsequent turnover from Dafydd Jenkins, fellow lock Beard, for reasons only he will understand, attempted a kick which only cannoned off Attissogbe, before Jalibert gratefully cantered away to score.

That score was a bitter blow for Wales who had responded manfully to the early onslaught as France extended the half-time lead to 26-7, after a first 40 minutes where the visitors managed 19 clean breaks.

Marchand celebrated his 50th cap with a try early in the second half with a well-constructed driving maul score.

Another long Wales kick resulted in Attissogbe finally getting his first score after Bielle-Biarrey and Ramos had combined.

Attissogbe soon gained his second after collecting another Jalibert cross-kick and the procession continued as lock Ollivon extended his record as the leading French forward try scorer.

Wales rallied late with centre Eddie James and flanker Aaron Wainwright prominent in attack and replacement wing Grady scored a late consolation.

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Mee, James, Hawkins, Adams; Edwards, T Williams; Carre, Lake (capt), Francis, Jenkins, Beard, Wainwright, Mann, Cracknell.

Replacements: Elias, Smith, Griffin, Carter, Plumtree, Hardy, J Evans, Grady.

France: Ramos; Attissogbe, Gailleton, Brau-Boirie, Bielle-Biarrey; Jalibert, Dupont (capt); Gros, Marchand, Aldegheri, Ollivon, Guillard, Cros, Jegou, Jelonch.

Replacements: Lamothe, Neti, Montagne, Flament, Meafou, Nouchi, Serin, Nene.

Referee: James Doleman (Scotland)