France on Sunday inevitably racked up a record win against struggling Wales and were the only unbeaten team in the Six Nations after two rounds.
Favored to win back-to-back titles, France scored eight tries, the first after just 88 seconds. The 54-12 scoreline eclipsed its previous high against Wales of 51-0 in 1998 at Wembley Stadium in London.
France did not overpower Wales as they could easily have. Instead, France played sevens style, keeping the ball alive, offloading, stepping and slicing Wales apart. The loose and slippery nature of France’s game — 28 line breaks — did not allow Wales time to reset their defense.
Photo: Reuters
The speed suited France’s new and young centers, Pau clubmates Fabien Brau-Boirie, 20, and Emilien Gailleton, 22. They both touched down and Gailleton was replaced late by another debutant, Noah Nene, 21. Flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert was the man of the match after scoring one try and assisting on three more.
“When you’re pushed to the edge of the cliff you’re capable of doing great things, but when you’re being praised it can sometimes be hard to get fired up in a combat sport,” France coach Fabien Galthie said. “There’s great maturity in this team, but also lots of young guys, and we need those [older] players to keep us on the straight and narrow, and make sure we don’t get carried away.”
Wales’ Six Nations losing streak since 2023 was extended to 13 matches. The game attracted only 57,744 spectators, the smallest Wales home crowd since the tournament expanded in 2000.
Wales supporters wanting their side to work hard and fight to the end were rewarded, even though their team was outgunned everywhere. Wales kept France scoreless for more than 20 minutes in the first half and for the final 19 minutes of the match, but the end result was familiar.
Wales, yet to hire a full-time defense coach, have conceded 50-plus points in five of their past six home matches, to England (68-14), Argentina (52-28), New Zealand (52-26) and South Africa (73-0).
“If you look at the athletes France have, if we kick a little too far or if there’s an offload they come alive,” Wales coach Steve Tandy told the BBC. “You have to tip your hat to France and where they are as a team. For us it’s transitioning, we’re not where we want to be. Ultimately we’re at this point in our journey.”
France were on the board after 88 seconds and had the bonus-point fourth try by halftime.
Gailleton crossed first, set up by Antoine Dupont, Theo Atissogbe and Charles Ollivon.
Left wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey then took a kick-pass from Jalibert and notched his 12th Six Nations try in 11 matches.
Bielle-Biarrey’s initial break led to Jalibert sending Brau-Boirie flying in and France were 19-0 up after 15 minutes.
Wales won the restart and prop Rhys Carre eventually crashed over, but Wales could not hold out France before halftime when right wing Atissogbe put in Jalibert for 26-7.
The second half was a procession for France with four more tries in 17 minutes.
Hooker Julien Marchand scored from a lineout drive, Attisogbe bagged a pair thanks to Bielle-Biarrey and Jalibert, and Ollivon grabbed the last. Thomas Ramos had target practice and converted seven of the eight tries.
Captain Dupont was rested before the hour mark. France welcome Italy in Lille next weekend.
Wales had the last say through replacement back Mason Grady and stay at home to face Scotland. There were still nearly 7,000 tickets unsold for that game.
“It’s our job to make people want to come and watch games,” Wales captain Dewi Lake told the BBC. “We’re a side that are not getting results, but all we can ask is that people stick with us, come on the journey with us, because we’re growing as a team.”
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was
RSS