France survive scare to defeat Wales

Cardiff: France took a further step towards claiming the Six Nations championship on Friday when they survived another stirring Wales fightback to secure a 26-20 victory that made it three wins out of three.

Intercept tries by Alexis Palisson and Francois Trinh-Duc plus two Morgan Parra penalties gave France a commanding 20-0 halftime lead at the Millennium Stadium.

Wales got back to 20-13 with 20 minutes left via the boot of Stephen Jones and a Leigh Halfpenny try but two penalties by France's replacement flyhalf Frederic Michalak reopened the gap and meant Shane Williams' sparkling try came too late.

France coach Marc Lievremont was able to celebrate three successive victories for the first time since taking over after the 2007 World Cup and two more, at home to Italy and England, will secure their first title since 2007. "We're split between happiness and relief after that second half because with a 20-point lead to suffer as we suffered in the second half is incredible," Lievremont told reporters. "We lost all coherence even before the break. In the dressing room all the players were overexcited, they were all talking. The second half has been a long ordeal. It was like the spectre of [the] Wales-Scotland game."

Wales coach Warren Gatland said: "We tried to play a lot of rugby. France never really threatened our line all match. They got two intercepts and kicked four penalties but never really got in our 22 and put us under pressure."

Results

France 26 Wales 20