Agencies
Wales kept their Six Nations hopes alive with a fourth straight victory over France as they triumphed 20-13 at the Stade de France on Saturday.
It was their second successive win in Paris and means they are still in the mix for overall Six Nations glory.
For France, who were loudly jeered at the final whistle, it was yet another disappointing performance and leaves their Six Nations hopes in tatters.
Wales coach Warren Gatland had restored George North to his starting line-up but it was quickly clear that Jamie Roberts was the key man for the visitors.
With France coach Philippe Saint-Andre leaving Mathieu Bastareaud on the bench, Wales targeted the midfield with Roberts crashing over the gain line time and again.
Wales went in front from a Leigh Halfpenny penalty then France responded with some long-forgotten flair, but Yoann Huget could not control Camille Lopez’s cross-kick.
Remi Lamerat went off on 18 minutes with a hamstring problem and Bastareaud joined the fray, just as Lopez kicked France level after Wales went offside.
Lopez missed a long-range penalty but Halfpenny got his to restore Wales’s lead and that seemed to spark France into life.
A cut-out pass from Lopez put Huget in space on the wing and the Toulouse man eluded Halfpenny’s tackle to dive over. But South African referee Jaco Peyper had spotted the pass was forward and the try was rightly refused.
France should have gone into half time level but Lopez badly missed a very kickable penalty.
France changed kicker at the start of the second half but Morgan Parra fared no better, missing his first penalty attempt.
Wesley Fofana made a scything break down the left to take France deep inside the Welsh 22 but they could not maintain the pressure as Guilhem Guirado was penalised for providing a screen for Bastareaud.
France were starting to find some self-confidence, though, and Brice Dulin was just a fraction off collecting a Lopez chip inside the Wales 22.
The pressure paid off and with kicking duties restored to him, Lopez notched a penalty from right in front of the posts.
Curiously, Saint-Andre picked that moment to make a raft of substitutions and France lost their momentum.
Within minutes Wales were back in front as Halfpenny kicked his third penalty. The tide seemed to have turned and Dan Biggar was unlucky to hit the post with a drop-goal attempt as Wales camped in French territory.
They made their pressure count, though, as Rhys Webb sold a dummy to Romain Taofifenua before Dan Lydiate’s delightful no-look offload allowed Biggar to sprint into the corner. Halfpenny missed the extras, but he then landed a penalty as Wales stretched their lead out to 17-6.
But, after 10 minutes of Welsh domination, France got back on the front foot and Dulin slid over in the corner with Lopez landing the difficult conversion from right out on the touchline.
Yet almost immediately, the hosts gave Wales a kickable penalty and Halfpenny didn’t miss, leaving the visitors 20-13 ahead with seven minutes left.
France had one last chance after kicking a penalty to the corner but with space out wide, Dulin cut inside and Wales smothered any chance France had a snatching a late draw.
- Agence France-Presse
ITALY’S FIGHTBACK SEND SCOTLAND TO CELLAR
Italy’s perseverance was rewarded as a last-gasp penalty try gave them a 22-19 win over Scotland for only their second away victory in the Six Nations.
Scotland looked like holding out in a messy battle of the tournament also-rans but Italy had other ideas as they emulated their 2007 victory, also at Murrayfield.
Italy trailed throughout but their bulldozing pack ultimately proved too much for the error-strewn Scots who now sit bottom of the table after a fifth-successive home defeat in the tournament.
With the hosts 19-15 ahead, thanks largely to the kicking of captain and scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, Italy poured on the pressure after Scotland were penalised for collapsing a scrum.
With Italy captain Sergio Parisse roaring his troops forward near the line, Hamish Watson collapsed the maul and the match official had no hesitation in awarding the decisive try, which Tommaso Allan converted to spark Italian celebrations.
Italy, who have had the dubious honour of the “wooden spoon” for finishing bottom 10 times in 15 editions of the Six Nations, look set to finish above Scotland who end up with matches against title-chasing Ireland and England.
“It’s fantastic for the team to win at the end. It’s been very hard on the team in recent years as we lost from a last-minute drop goal in Rome last time out,” Parisse told the BBC.
“The forwards did a tremendous job at the end there.”
For Scotland, the optimism of two narrow defeats by France and Wales, evaporated after they raced into a 10-0 lead in the opening minutes.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the performance. Unfortunately in the end it’s cost us – our indiscipline, but it wasn’t just that, it was the whole performance,” said Laidlaw, who kicked 14 points. “There was way too much poor stuff in between the good things we did.”
- Reuters
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