Stade de France match/France 18 Wales 24: It was not until five minutes from the end of proper time here on Saturday that the Wales fans began to sing Bread of Heaven, in a muted manner. Their unwillingness to believe in what was happening in front of them was understandable, so unlikely was this comeback against a France team that had blown them away in the first half and so ferocious was the French onslaught in the closing minutes.
"It was one of the most surreal games I've played," said Martyn Williams, the scorer of the brace of Welsh tries that turned the game, and probably Wales's player of the championship so far. Turning this game around when a repetition of 2003's 33-5 bleu-wash looked likely was the stuff of dreams, and it says much about the way Wales have moved forward since their wooden spoon of that championship.
"It means more than winning against England, because of the manner in which we won today," said the flyhalf Stephen Jones. "We were up against it but we kept believing in our game plan and we played better rugby than we did against England. The manner in which we came back epitomised our team spirit."
In winning their first three matches of a Six Nations campaign for the first time in 11 years, this Wales side have taken a serious option on their first title since 1994, and have finally confirmed they have found the ability to close out big, tight matches against higher-ranked opposition. "It's a big step forward for us, because at the start of this Six Nations campaign everyone spoke to us about getting results against the big nations and we've now managed to beat England and France," said Jones. "In November the performances were very good but we didn't get the results. To get these results is a great relief."
France finally put in a display of attacking rugby on a par with their Test win against Australia in November, and had Wales on the rack with tries from Dimitri Yachvili and Aurelien Rougerie in the opening 12 minutes.
The physical disparity in the first half was summed up in a single image: the 6ft 4in Rougerie bouncing the tiny figure of Shane Williams out of his way like a juggernaut rolling over a traffic cone. It was Williams' 28th birthday, and it was some gift.
But that move also summed up why France would lose: the finishing was inept, with the hooker Sebastien Bruno ruining a try-scoring chance with a forward pass, and three other tries went begging in the first half.
"The first half was very difficult for us," conceded Jones. "We weren't efficient in the contact area and didn't clean the ball out. France played brilliant rugby. They passed the ball well out of contact and we kept going backwards. We realised if we wanted to have a chance we had to improve our defence, and keep the ball."
The flyhalf sparked the great comeback following the restart with a 60-metre surge after Gavin Henson had dispossessed the otherwise excellent Yannick Jauzion in the Wales 22. Shane Williams followed up, took revenge on Rougerie by skinning the vast winger on the outside and Martyn, that other omnipresent Williams, duly finished the move.
"Martyn was everywhere, he's like a back and a forward at the same time," said the centre Tom Shanklin. His tap penalty three minutes later in the France 22 was "like a blow to the head", said Frederic Michalak, and it left Fabien Pelous trying to figure out where the family silver had gone after Williams slithered over the France captain to put Wales in the unlikeliest of leads, 15-12.
Michalak restored parity with a drop-goal, then Jones took over with a penalty and a drop of his own. It also set up the final 10 minutes, with Wales desperately defending as France sought a converted try. First came onslaughts led by Michalak and the replacement hooker William Servat, then a series of four five-metre scrums with France hunting a penalty try and the referee William Honiss refusing to cooperate.
Rougerie was impressed; "They can do the Grand Slam. Ireland are a big challenge, but Wales have an enormous ability to play turnover ball back at you and score every time."
Wales' coach Mike Ruddock was more keen to talk up his team's next opponents, a poor-looking Scotland than he was to discuss his team's chances of taking the championship to a grand slam decider against Ireland. "We can't talk about that. Scotland have just had a great win, the pressure is on us and I'm sure they will bombard us with all they've got."
Ruddock also noted that his captain Gareth Thomas will play no further part in the campaign due to a broken thumb. "We've got belief, confidence and skill," Ruddock added. "Those last minutes on our own line today underline the character of the team."
FRANCE: Laharrague (Brive); Rougerie (Clermont-Auvergne), Jauzion (Toulouse), Traille (Biarritz; Grandclaude, Perpignan, 47min), Dominici (Stade Francais); Delaigue (Castres; Michalak, Toulouse, 52), Yachvili (BIarritz); Marconnet (Stade Francais), Bruno (Sale; Servat, Toulouse, h-t), Mas (Perpignan; Milloud, Bourgoin, 50), Pelous (capt; Toulouse), Thion (BIarritz; Lamboley, Toulouse, 76), Betsen (Biarritz), Nyanga (Beziers), Bonnaire (Bourgoin; Harinordoquy, Biarritz, 61). Tries: Yachvili, Rougerie. Con: Yachvili. Pen: Yachvili. Drop goal: Michalak.
WALES: Thomas (capt, Toulouse; R Williams, Cardiff, h-t); Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Shanklin (Cardiff), Henson (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), S Williams (Neath-Swansea Ospreys); S Jones (Clermont-Auvergne), Peel (Llanelli; Cooper, Newport Gwent Dragons, 69); Jenkins (Cardiff), Davies (Gloucester; McBryde, Llanelli, 66), A Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys; Yapp, Cardiff, 69), Cockbain (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), Sidoli (Cardiff), R Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys; J Thomas, Neath-Swansea Ospreys, 80), M Williams (Cardiff), Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons). Tries: M Williams 2. Con: S Jones. Pens: S Jones 3. Drop goal: S Jones. Att: 79,000.
Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).
