France dominated proceedings throughout and thoroughly deserved their victory, going over for five tries while Wales’ only reply came via winger Luke Morgan.
France tore into the hosts from the outset with their huge pack dominating the early exchanges. France had already spurned one clear cut chance before powerhouse prop Jefferson Poirot came through a fragmented ruck close to the line to plunge over for France’s first try in the eighth minute.
Wales were still getting over that early shock when three minutes later converted winger turned flanker Julien Kazubek glided over directly under the posts after another sustained period of pressure by the visitors.
With scrum half Eric Escande slotting the easy conversions to go with his earlier penalty France had raced out to a 0-17 lead with Wales hardly having a sniff of the ball.
Eventually Wales got out of first gear and moved tentatively into French territory to provide Sam Davies an opportunity at goal after France were penalised for slowing the ball down at a ruck. The young fly half gave Wales hope by sending the ball between the posts. He doubled his tally five minutes from the break with another well struck penalty as Wales began to claw their way back into the game.
However France delivered a sucker punch right on halftime when Escande gathered the ball from a lineout, burst through a gap to score unhindered near the posts. With his conversion France were clearly in the driving seat at the break, ahead 6-24.
Davies clawed three more points back for Wales seven minutes after the re-start after the home side dismantled the French pack in a scrum.
France had the chance to immediately hit back after Samson Lee was penalised at the breakdown but Escande’s long shot from halfway sailed wide into the driving rain.
But France didn’t have long to wait as Wales failed to clear their lines and the French forwards and backs combined to send winger Bastien Fuster over in the corner to put France 9-29 ahead.
Luke Morgan continued his rich vein of form when he capitalized on a mistake to pickpocket the French defence after Davies’s chip kick bounced awkwardly. The Bridgend winger was hand to pick up the scraps and cross for his fourth try of the campaign. With Davies’ conversion Wales had reduced the arrears to 16-29.
Wales tried to get back in the game, making a raft of changes, but poor decision making and the inability to retain possession for any length of time against the wind meant they were facing an uphill battle.
France used their power and pace to finish off Wales with replacement Darly Domvo slipping off tackles to glide over in the dying stages.
