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France bulldozed their way past Scotland at Murrayfield in round three of the Guinness Six Nations, moving one step closer to a Grand Slam. But they face a tricky trip to Cardiff this weekend, and any fan of the Championship will know that Wales are capable of anything at the Principality Stadium under lights.
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Wayne Pivac’s side also have the opportunity to exact revenge on France and dash their Grand Slam hopes one year after Wales’ had their dreams of a Grand Slam ended at the Stade de France in dramatic fashion in round five of the 2021 Championship.
Wales have also welcomed back Josh Navidi into the squad this week, and will hope the flanker makes the same impact Taulupe Faletau made at Twickenham after a long spell out.
When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 20:00 (UK) on Friday March 11th at the Principality Stadium and will be broadcast live on the BBC in the UK and S4C in Wales, RTÉ in Ireland, Stan Sport in Australia and SuperSport in South Africa.
Head-to-head
Since their first meeting in 1908, Wales have won 51 of their encounters with Les Bleus, losing 47 and drawing on three occasions. Across their last ten meetings, the Welsh have won six matches to France’s four, although France are on a three match winning streak against them. That streak of course includes their last meeting in the 2021 Championship, where a Brice Dulin try at the death deprived Wales of a Grand Slam.
Match odds from bet365
bet365 have the handicap on Wales at +9, with 1/4 odds that France win. There are also 7/1 odds the hosts win by a margin of 1-5 points.
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Prediction
Pundits David Flatman and Tom Shanklin discussed the match on their Flats & Shanks podcast this week and while they both see France as firm favourites, the former Wales centre outlined how Wales can beat them.
“How to deal with the French power?” Shanklin said. “That’s going to be the big one. What can you do? They don’t play any rugby really in their own half anymore. They have the most kick metres achieved by a team, so they kick the ball a lot. But when they do want to open you up, they’ve got it all. They’re sort of playing pragmatic in their own half but when it’s on, they’ve got the players and ability to see it an execute it.
“What is their weakness? How can you beat France? You’ve got to take your chances, because chances will come. There won’t be many, but there could be two or three, and you’ve got to nail them. And then, it’s about game management and applying pressure, because they’re going to get on the front foot a lot.”
*Odds accurate as of 08/03/22.
Comments on RugbyPass
Pls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
124 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
124 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
124 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
124 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to comments