Match winner: George North
Wales ended an eight-game losing streak with a hard-fought 16-6 victory over an uninspired French side at the Stade de France on Saturday.
A solitary late try from wing George North handed Wales the spoils in a dour game that culminated to the sound of boos and whistles from the Parisian crowd.
The result leaves pre-tournament favourites France rooted to the bottom on the Six Nations Championship standings after their shock loss to Italy last week.
'Crisis' might be too harsh a term to define the French situation at the moment, but all is clearly not well in Philippe Saint-André's camp. Most worrying was the lack of intensity and commitment in the French defence in the last quarter, when the game was still there for the taking.
The pressure was evident in what was a must-win game for both sides, as the fear of failure seemed to dominate the attacking spirit that has served these teams so well in the past.
A first-half characterised by conservative tactics and wasted opportunities on both ends came to a close with the scores locked at 3-3 and the spectators voicing their displeasure.
Wales had enjoyed the lion's share of possession but the French came closest to crossing whitewash, only to fluff two great chances with poor decision making. The only thing worse than the quality of the spectacle was the state of the playing surface which, was once again, took a beating at every scrum.
The French half-back duo of Frederic Michalak and Maxime Machenaud came under heavy fire for their showing in Rome last week and they did their chances of being selected for next week's trip to Twichenham no good with some poor passes and options while full-back Yoann Huget failed to offload to frustrated wing Wesley Fofana on his outside with the tryline begging.
Wales started the second half well though and Leigh Halfpenny was able to give the visitors the lead with his second penalty.
The home crowd howled when Francois Trinh-Duc - playing at full-back after coming on for wing Benjamin Fall at the break - missed an easy drop goal when France were camped on the Welsh line.
Michalak drew the hosts level with a penalty (against the Welsh scrum) with half-an-hour left on the clock.
The hosts' scrum had become their primary weapon but it couldn't help them when Dan Biggar chipped over the top for North, who did brilliantly to evade the touchline and score in the corner in the 71st minute.
A long-range penalty from Halfpenny in the dying moments sealed the deal to leave France with plenty to think about.
Man of the match: Not many stand-out performers but Leigh Halfpenny was very solid, making very few errors and landing crucial kicks.
Moment of the match: There was only one. North's try was the game changer and a rare highlight.
Villain of the match: No nasty stuff, but if you're French, a guy called Philippe won't be on your Christmas card list right now.
The scorers:
For France:
Pens: Michalak 2
For Wales:
Try: North
Con: Halfpenny
Pens: Halfpenny 3
France: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Jocelino Suta, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Yannick Forestier
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Florian Fritz.
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Ian Evans, 4 Andrew Coombs, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Scott Williams.
Venue: Stade de France, St. Denis (Paris)
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
By Ross Hastie
Comments
ArmchairGeneral says...
France are supposed to be unpredictable because they try things and some times they fail spectacularly and sometimes the come off fantastically. I get fed up with people saying this is so French. Admittedly sometimes they just don't show up for away games but really this is not typically French. It's bad, really bad, but not typical old France. The problem is they look like... Bad England not typical French.
Posted 20:03 09th February 2013
Stellenbosched2 says...
Hi ericmarseille
I can feel your pain in your post. At least you have the manners to congratulate Wales. I have said it many times, you can't have the strongest club system (made so by buying in foreign players) and expect your national side to perform.
I would also like to add that one of the major negatives about professional rugby is that it has destroyed the glory of French rugby. The natural ability to attack devestatingly from any area of the field is a distant memory. Very sad for me.
Posted 19:56 09th February 2013
Kent says...
Welshy mate - totally agree with you. Great thing for me was that Wales were able to slug it out. I thought Ian Evans had his best game for Wales
Posted 19:45 09th February 2013
Kent says...
Welshy mate - totally agree with you. Great thing for me was that Wales were able to slug it out. I thought Ian Evans had his best game for Wales
Posted 19:45 09th February 2013
sirtidychris says...
Wow that was like watching england 2004-2010 play, terrible boring rugby and what the heck was going on with that pitch ?? Some big changes needed Trinh-Duc at 10, parra at 9 and fofana at 13. Well done wales not sure either team deserved to win this but france wanted it less, will need to up the intensity to win another game though.
Posted 19:45 09th February 2013
1st58 says...
@makemehappy - you are perfectly entitled to engage low as long as shoulders are not below hips - Jones was simply going to ground and really should have been carded.
Posted 19:41 09th February 2013
PontySurrey says...
Sir Robert Howley?
Posted 19:39 09th February 2013
Sheridan says...
One of the richest unions in the world and they still haven't sorted out the pitch, the big stadium in the capitol Paris, an absolute disgrace! (Remember the Ireland game called off 'cos of no under soil heating) And now this, the scrums were a farce, may as well have been on the beach.
Posted 19:39 09th February 2013
Spartacus says...
This Wales team is worse than the Italy that France lost to last week. They are getting worse! Sack PSA today and get in Mallet/Cotter/anyone with a brain.
A lot of good individual performances from the players, but the overall set up and selections are wrong.
Posted 19:37 09th February 2013
FISH says...
wow welsh fans are already hailing the welsh preformance when just last week welsh fans were disillusioned, from disillusionment to delusion, wales won and they deserved it but it was hardly a great win or a great display of rugby, two deflated and clearly over rated teams slogging it out, poor rugby all around, but delusional welsh fans will think thier team is the best to ever grace a rugby pitch....pathetic, well done to wales hope they get better and surprise the english
Posted 19:37 09th February 2013
caramba13 says...
It was like watching slow-motion rugby league. Very boring. Rugby is supposed to be 'entertainment', though the only real spectator entertainment today was watching fellows sprint on with tiny rakes to patch up the pitch. Wales just deserved to win - which they ended up getting with a lucky bounce: very apt.
Posted 19:35 09th February 2013
FISH says...
wow i remember back when everyone thought france would win this tournament, shows how unpredictable the french are. when everyone thinks they're going to win they lose and when everyone thinks they're out they win, just look at the RWC in 2011
Posted 19:24 09th February 2013
ShamanSheep says...
God that was awful - but you can see what it meant to the boys at the end, so hopefully we can kick on now. As for France - 'crisis' is by no means too harsh a term.
Posted 19:23 09th February 2013
makemehappy says...
@1st58 - actually that was his opposite number engaging so low. He was clearly lower than Adam. When Wales engaged well, it always went to ground. When the French did, they had a penalty! Bonkers! Well worth watching the overhead shot of the scrum too as their tightheads both turned in at 60 odd degrees! Not picked up once by the officials!
Great win for Wales, and I knew that they were going to win when the French tried a drop goal. Time for France to actually pick a sensible back line now!
Posted 19:17 09th February 2013
froggy73 says...
If getting the wooden spoon means PSA goes, then I will support Ireland, England and Scotland for the 3 remaining games.
I thought Lievremont was bad (and he was) but I could not believe a worse coach would follow.
PSA out !!!
Oh btw well played Wales. But the task was a little too easy...
Posted 19:15 09th February 2013
Davoust says...
I am so glad for the ... (was) glorious team of Wales, but also for France, I expect Scotland to beat them in Paris and I hope the wooden spoon (first time in the last two decades ?) will be enough for Saint Andre to coach another glorious team, maybe even Toulon (Bordeaux - Toulon 41 - 0).
Posted 19:11 09th February 2013
melkdave says...
Well just how bad was France,absolutely no heart,no passion and intensity and worst of all no leadership..PSA has to stop messing with his selections,and start playing players in position.Fontana at 12 ,Bast at 13 Fail and Huget as wingers.And a proper a FB.Most of all though he has to play Mitchlak at 9 if his playing,and Trin-Duc at 10The dominance the french pack achived in the scrum ect was wasted,as the pitch was just a disgrace.and the ref gave tWales the benifit of the dought A.Jones was shown just how bad he is atm in the scrum ,and still useless in the looseThis victory will hopefully revitalise and galvanise Wales,just as the victory over England before the RWC got Wales playing to their potential.France have gone from most proples favourites to win the championship to laughong stocks atmSo watchout England,Ireland and Scotland France are way past wounded now ,they are into humiliation and shame as far as their fans are concerned
Posted 19:08 09th February 2013
ericmarseille says...
When we won that string of victories in November under the management of Saint-André I, like all French people, was delighted, for he (Saint-André) has never found success in his coaching life, even in Toulon, though riddled with stars...Those two matches put things back were they should be...Tough times ahead for the French XV...It's Fouroux times coming back with a vengeance...Appalling selections (Huget FFS), lack of a gameplan, all-round loss of technical and tactical skill.
The coming years will test our patience that's for sure...Sigh.
Congrats to the Welsh, anyway (I'm preparing to say also "congrats to the Georgians, to the Romanians, to the Andorrans"..).
Posted 19:06 09th February 2013
Theshaw says...
Awful awful awful!!! Hopefully France union or whatever the governing body is, cut the foreign players out of the top 14 and put a salary cap in place!'n everyone is happy and international rugby( which is most important) gets back on track!!!
Posted 19:05 09th February 2013
Ruggernaut says...
The French team is in a complete mess. I find it hard to believe these guys hammered Australia in November. Wales was simply too good in all departments (except the scrums in the latter part of the game). Dan Biggar had a good game. Jamie Roberts was a physical as ever. LEIGH HALFPENNY!! Can this boy smash a rugby ball or what? George North was brilliant in finishing Dan Biggar's kick overhead. I have to admit, I was screaming NOOOOOO!!! when he kicked the ball and not pass it to Roberts. But when North got hold of it and got the try...well that's all that mattered then. Carry on Wales. Carry on!!
Posted 19:04 09th February 2013