France sent an early warning to the other Guinness Men's Six Nations teams when they cruised to a seven-try 43-00 bonus point win over Wales at Stade de France on Saturday evening. Despite being outplayed in every department Wales played for the full eighty minutes and was not disgraced at all.
France patiently absorbed the pressure from Wales for the first twenty minutes, however, thereafter France turned on the after-burners to score four unanswered tries to lead 28-00 at the halftime break. Wales had a "better" second half but unfortunately could not prevent the French from scoring almost at will in the second half.
Despite dominating possession and territory Wales could not convert their dominance into points on the scoreboard. France, on the other hand, threatened to score when they got their hand on the ball. After seventeen minutes of play, Theo Attissogbe caught a perfectly weighted kick-pass from Antoine du Pont to open the scoring with a try in the corner. Thomas Ramos added the extra two points.
Four minutes later Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored a "simple" try on the other side of the field to extend the French lead to 14-00 following Thomas Ramos' conversion.
With seven minutes to play, Antoine du Pond cut through the defence of Wales like a hot knife through butter and offloaded to Theo Attissogbe to score his second try of the match. Thomas Ramos again added the extra two points to extend France's lead to 21-00.
France set up camp in the red zone of Wales and Louis Bielle-Biarrey was put in space by Du Pont to score his second and the French fourth and bonus-point try. Ramos again did not miss the conversion, securing a 28-00 lead going into the second half.
France continued their relentless onslaught and hooker Julien Marchand scored France's fifth try of the match to extend their lead to 33-00.
Minutes later Romain Ntamack kicked a perfect pass to the corner, for replacement winger Emilien Gailleton to add France's sixth try to lead 38-00.
With two minutes to play, Gregory Alldritt put the final nail in the Welsh coffin, forcing his way over the try line. Gregory Alldritt's try secured a 43-00 win for France.
Scorers:
France: Tries: Theo Attissogbe (2), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (2), Julien Marchand, Emilien Gailleton, Gregory Alldritt. Conversions: Thomas Ramos (4).
Teams
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Alexandre Roumant, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros. Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Mickael Guillard, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Emilien Gailleton.
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Ben Thomas, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 James Botham, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Gareth Thomas. Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Dan Edwards, 23 Blair Murray.