The XV of France signed a great victory against Wales (41-28), this Saturday March 18 at the Stade de France for its last match of the Six Nations Tournament 2023. Thanks to this improved success, the French can still hope be crowned champions if Ireland stumble in the closing clash against England.
A victory to end the tournament in style. In ambush in the standings behind the Imperial Irish, the Blues were to maintain the hope of a second triumph in a row in the Six Nations Tournament by winning a big success against Wales. And for their last match in official competition before the World Cup (September 8-October 28, 2023), the Blues approached the meeting with a lot of confidence after their historic feat against England at Twickenham on March 11.
Not enough to impress the Welsh, who hit hard from the start by deceiving the French defense thanks to a try from George North, easily transformed (0-7, 8th). Doubt could have started to settle in the French camp, which had no room for error if it wanted to maintain the tiny hope of a final victory in the tournament. But the tricolor control was quick to resurface a few seconds later, preventing the Red Dragons from savoring their good start to the match. Following a superb solo number from Romain Ntamack in the middle of the field, Damian Penaud is well served and concludes the French offensive perfectly to bring the two teams back to level (7-7, 10th).
Despite some inaccuracies in the transmissions, the French then took advantage of the penalties imposed on the Welsh to grab points. After a game reversal, Jonathan Danty once again punished the Welsh team by scoring the second French try in a corner (20-7, 34th). Despite a delicate start, the Blues gradually managed to show their mastery in the game by inflicting twenty points in a row on the Welsh and took off before halftime (20-7).
Two-faced Welsh
The XV of France retained its offensive dynamic from the first minutes of the second period with the first international try from Uini Atonio, once again transformed by an impeccable Thomas Ramos (27-7, 44th). The French then knocked out their opponents thanks to the formidable efficiency of Gaël Fickou (34-7, 49th), who arrived launched and allowed the Blues to win the offensive bonus in this meeting.
As against the English, a new river score seemed to be announced in favor of the France team. But piqued in their pride, the Welsh responded to the French with good shots played in the last 25 minutes of the game. Taking advantage of a slowdown in the Blues, Bradley Roberts first bent the French wall (34-14, 56th), imitated a few minutes later by his teammate Tomos Williams (34-21, 65th) who well snuck between the defenders.
The meeting finally ended as it had started: at a frantic pace. As he knows how to do, Damian Penaud took advantage of a long French offensive streak to ultimately score the 5th try for the XV of France (41-21, 78th), becoming at the same time the top scorer of the tournament. But too distracted by their success, the Blues let Rio Dyer escape, who resisted too soft tackles from Thomas Ramos and Damian Penaud on the left wing before scoring the last try of the match for the Welsh (41- 28, 80th).
Always as clinical offensively, the French had no trouble getting the upper hand over a player Welsh team until the end, who knew how to take advantage of the weak time of the XV of France to punish it in the second half. With this bonus victory (41-28) for their last match of the tournament, the contract is fulfilled for the Blues. They will nevertheless have to wait for the result of the Ireland-England shock to know their fate and hope to be crowned champions on the wire.