Wales 20 France 26

The Six Nations Championship game between Wales and France at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Friday, Feb 26, 2010.

If only Wales would play for the full 80 minutes. For the second Six Nations game in succession they mounted the most stirring of comebacks but this time there was no fairytale ending, the sporting Gods were looking the other way, their benevolence exhausted.

Wales, in fact, played much better and for considerably longer last night than they did during their remarkable comeback win against Scotland but this time there was little tangible reward, only pride in a brave, if error strewn, performance as they tried to claw back 20 point half-time deficit.

There was also the consolation of yet another Shane Williams special, a magical jinking last-minute try by the Osprey on his 33rd birthday which took him to 19 Championship tries easing him past the previous Welsh record of Gareth Edwards. A moment enjoyed by all rugby fans regardless of allegiance.

Warren Gatland’s team tried to be positive in the first half but struggled against an exceptionally well organised France defence as Marc Lievremont’s side helped themselves to two interception tries, one for Alexis Palisson and a second for Francois Trinh-Duc.

It would be harsh to blame these purely on Welsh errors and explain the tries away as mere gifts to the French, they were the result of constant French pressure in defence and predatory instincts in attack on the rare occasions the opportunity to strike arose For 40 minutes France were in total control, containing Wales with something to spare and looking every bit Grand Slam champions elect.

They had quietened the crowd, which was some achievement on an unusually emotional evening which started with a minute’s silence for Cheryl Davies, the mother of Wales lock Bradley Davies, who died last week.

Her son, making his first ever start for Wales, looked to the heavens briefly and blinked back the tears as the silence meshed into applause before enjoying a fine game indeed being at the very heart of the Wales forward effort from start to finish. A fitting tribute.

Initially however it was all France with Morgan Parra also adding two well struck medium range penalties to augment the tries and spread gloom and despondency among the Welsh crowd. Only once before, against England, have Wales ever trailed by 20 points or more at half-time in a Six Nations game.

Palisson’s try had come from an over ambitious miss pass from James Hook to Jamies Roberts while Trinh-Duc’s effort came on the stroke of half-time after Williams had been scragged by Yannick Jauzion and, with Wales already playing catch-up, opted to try and keep the ball alive. Trinh-Duc read his mind, reached back athletically and was away up the touchline.

Wales looked dead and buried – a situation they seem to find strangely energising – and straight after the break they went to work with a will as they upped the pace, tapped a few penalties and started to turn that infuriating French swarm defence that had been stifling the life out of them. And, as they came under pressure, France started to transgress and panic. It was ever thus.

Stephen Jones got the crowd back on side with a brace of penalties, the first of which saw him surpass Neil Jenkins’ Welsh record of 406 Championshp points. He would have added a third but Wales, wanting to maintain momentum, spurned another three points to kick for a line-out five metres out. Lee Byrne alas kicked the ball dead, which seemed an omen at the time, but Wales soon recovered with a splendid sprinters try from Leigh Halfpenny, the Cardiff man winning the foot race after a quick-fire and very “flat” pass from Shane Williams.

Game on and if Jamie Roberts had spotted Hook steaming up alongside moments later when breaking downfield Wales could well have been on level terms. Instead it was the let off France badly needed to steady the ship and although down to 14 men after Parra had been sin-binned for a deliberate slap down, their defence regrouped. Freddie Michalak, on for Trinh-Duc and not the first man you would put your mortgage on in a crisis, eased the pressure with a penalty and the errant Parra returned to add a second.

France were home and hosed surely? But not quite. Williams struck in thrilling fashion – a highlights package of his greatest tries would be a guaranteed best seller – and we were back on familiar ground. 80 minutes were showing on the clock as France, leading by six points, were asked to restart the game by referee Jonathan Kaplan. Michalak knew exactly what was required and made sure his restart found touch.

The game was over. France, for the first time under Lievremont, had won three games in a row and with home games beckoning against Italy and England Le Grand Chelem is theirs to lose.
Match details

Wales: L Byrne (Ospreys); L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Ospreys), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), R Rees (Cardiff Blues); P James (Ospreys), H Bennett (Ospreys), A Jones (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), D Jones (Cardiff Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys, capt). Subs: L Charteris (N-G Dragons) for D Jones 24,

France: C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); J Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), M Bastareaud (Stade Français), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), A Palisson (Brive); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont); T Domingo (Clermont), W Servat (Toulouse), N Maz (Perpignan), L Nallet (Racing Metro 92), J Pierre (Clermont-Auvergne), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), J Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Subs: D Szarzewski (Stade Français) for Servat 51, J-B Poux (Toulouse) for Domingo 54, F Michalak (Toulouse) for Trinh-Duc 64, S Chabal (Racing Metro 92) for Pierre 64
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).