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4 hours ago
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Worrying times for the Welsh, worrying times, indeed, for all the four teams who have a game coming up against this French team in the next few weeks. They started the 2025 Six Nations by beating Wales 43-0, a record score against them in a home game, and they did it at a canter. It’s hard to say which side of the score they’ll be more pleased with, the seven tries, or the shut-out. The only blemish for the French was a red card for Romain Ntamack, who was sent off for a high tackle on Dan Edwards when there were ten minutes left to play. It didn’t make much difference this weekend but, who knows, maybe it will next one, when they play England at Twickenham.
The Welsh have lost 13 in a row now. They looked awful small out there waiting for the start, surrounded by flames, fireworks, and the blindingly bright blue, red and white lights, while their handful of travelling fans were drowned out by the tens of thousands of French. Their skipper Jac Morgan gathered his men into a huddle, and did his best to steel them for what was coming. Being ready for the blow, though, didn’t make it any easier to wear when it came. Within minutes, Morgan’s team was reeling backwards when Thomas Ramos kicked a 50-22, and Antoine Dupont barreled his way over underneath the posts.
Dupont hauled three Welsh tacklers with him, and, Tom Rogers, managed to stop him grounding the ball. But it was only a temporary reprieve. Soon enough, the French were back in the Welsh 22, this time when Paul Boudehent hacked the ball on after it was spilled in midfield. He fumbled the pick up, but Dupont scragged Ben Thomas as he attempted to clear the ball off the back of the ensuing scrum. Tomos Williams got the ball away at the second attempt, but the clearance only invited the French right back at them. This time, Jean-Baptiste Gros was stopped just short of the line.
The ball came back to Dupont, who unlocked the defence with a wizardly little chip to Théo Attissogbé, unmarked on the right wing. That was the first, then, and the second came soon after, made, this time, by Ramos’ basketball pass to put Louis Bielle-Biarrey through a gap in the midfield.
There was some good stuff from the Welsh in among all this. Their scrum held up, Thomas seemed to find time and space to play in the midfield, and almost picked out Rogers with a cross-field kick in the French 22. They looked an altogether better side than the abject one they turned out in Cardiff last autumn. But they were 14-0 down regardless, and had already lost Aaron Wainwright, replaced by Tommy Reffell, and then Owen Watkin, which meant they had to bring the uncapped Dan Edwards on at fly-half and move Thomas across to the centre to cover for him.
Worse yet, they went a man down after Evan Lloyd was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Bielle-Biarrey. Attissogbé picked off another while Lloyd was off, made, again, by Dupont, who stormed up the middle of the pitch after stepping out of a tackle like he was picking his feet over something left on the pavement by a careless dog walker. Bielle-Biarrey got a second too, by turning Rogers inside out from a standing start after the ball was flung out of a rolling maul. Forty minutes gone then, and the French had already scored their four and earned a bonus point.
The second half, then, had the air of an open training exercise. The French cruised through it while their bands played in the stands. They ran through a defensive set after Wales won a penalty for offside during a rare foray into the French 22. The opportunity came and went when the French crushed their replacement front row in a scrum. That done, Fabien Galthié made six simultaneous substitutions in the 50th minute, and the rejuvenated pack duly drove their way over from a line out for a fifth. Ntamack created the sixth with a deft crossfield kick for Émilien Gailleton.
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Grégory Alldritt bullied his way over for the seventh, when the Welsh were back down to 14 men, this time because Freddie Thomas had been sent to the sin bin.
The Welsh kept at it, much good it did them. It was the first time they’d failed to score a point in a Six Nations game, which stung. A scrap broke out when they thought they had mauled their way over after Ntamack’s dismissal. They’re a proud team, and getting better, but the truth is that in the years since they last won here, back in 2019, the French have pulled so far ahead that the gap between them is as good as impassable for this side, or any other the Welsh could muster.
