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The Six Nations lives on as France snuff out Wales' Grand Slam dream in Parisian
France claimed a dramatic last-gasp 32-30 victory to deny Wales the Guinness Six Nations Grand Slam after a controversial Paris epic. And they could also destroy Wales’ title hopes by beating Scotland with a bonus point next Friday.
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France had lock Paul Willemse sent off 11 minutes from time for making contact with the eye area of Wales prop Wyn Jones, while the visitors played the last eight minutes with 13 men following yellow cards for Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams, and ultimately could not hold out.
Les Bleus full-back Brice Dulin scored a try two minutes into injury time, giving them a five-point maximum.
Wales had recorded just three Test match victories last year – against Italy twice and Georgia – but they seemed on course to be crowned kings of European rugby once more.
Fly-half Dan Biggar scored 20 points from a try, three penalties and three conversions, while flanker Josh Navidi and wing Josh Adams also touched down to thwart France.
PLAYER RATINGS
After the Grand Slam slipped through their fingers, we rated the Welsh players #FRAvWAL #sixnations https://t.co/e8OawqpZTj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
The hosts, though, refused to throw in the towel, and they prevailed through tries by Dulin, lock Romain Taofifenua, scrum-half Antoine Dupont and captain Charles Ollivon, with goalkickers Mathieu Jalibert and Romain Ntamack booting 12 points between them.
Wales found themselves under intense pressure in the first five minutes as Les Bleus’ powerful ball-carriers made headway and Dupont orchestrated matters impressively.
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And France opened their account through a sixth-minute try when Taofifenua crashed over from close range and Jalibert converted for a 7-0 lead.
But Wales responded sharply when wing Louis Rees-Zammit sent scrum-half Gareth Davies clear and over the French line, and although he was held up by Ollivon’s tackle, the visitors were soon level.
I can't believe what I just witnessed ? pic.twitter.com/k4ZhrbtCct
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
More sustained work deep inside France’s 22 saw Davies rifle out a pass from the forward base, and Biggar cut a superb attacking line to claim a try that he also converted.
But a breathless opening continued at pace as Dulin kicked over the Welsh defence, Jalibert gathered the bounce and put Dupont into space to score.
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Jalibert converted, yet Wales drew level again after 18 minutes as more impressive composure close to the French line resulted in a try for Navidi, and Biggar’s conversion made it 14-14.
Taofifenua departed injured early in the second quarter, before Wales went ahead for the first time through a Biggar penalty.
The game continued at a lightning pace, but France suffered another injury blow when Jalibert was forced off, and replacement Ntamack announced his arrival by booting a 34th-minute penalty to tie things up at 17-17.
The incident occurred towards the end of the match with the result already sealed. #IREvENG https://t.co/RiCyBhLsyO
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
Both teams continued to probe space and attack gaps, and France regrouped impressively following Jalibert’s exit due to a head injury, before centre Gael Fickou wasted a gilt-edged try chance when he dropped number eight Gregory Alldritt’s midfield pass.
And that was the final act of a memorable first 40 minutes after Wales stood toe to toe with France and probably shaded the attacking moments.
Wales went back in front through a 46th-minute Biggar penalty, and the visitors continued to dominate the aerial battle before a first change saw scrum-half Tomos Williams replace Gareth Davies.
Williams was immediately playing a key role in the action after flanker Justin Tipuric created an opportunity, then Adams hacked on, before Williams gathered and sent the wing over.
'Everyone got so carried away with that New Zealand [semi-final] game… Eddie needs to look in the mirror and that’s the only person you’ve got to blame.'https://t.co/bEJ9ozDwcl
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
Referee Luke Pearce awarded the try, with no clear evidence that France flanker Dylan Cretin had got his hand underneath the ball and prevented a touchdown, and Biggar’s conversion meant Wales were 10 points ahead.
An Ntamack penalty cut the gap, and then France saw prop Mohamed Haouas sin-binned for collapsing a maul in build-up play to Rees-Zammit just failing to touch down as Wales hunted a fourth try.
France then lost Willemse, but Wales could not close out the game to seal a famous triumph at the end of their Six Nations campaign, with Faletau and Liam Williams being shown yellow cards in rapid succession before Dulin broke Welsh hearts.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments