French triumph despite Wales fightback

Wales crashed to their second RBS 6 Nations defeat of the campaign as France served further notice of their Grand Slam credentials with a 26-20 victory.

Alexis Palisson and Francois Trinh-Duc scored breakaway tries as France raced into a 20-0 lead on the back of a dominant first-half performance.

Two penalties from Stephen Jones and a Lee Halfpenny try reduced the gap to just seven points in a brave fightback. But penalties from Frederik Michalak and Morgan Parra pushed France clear again, rendering Shane Williams' brilliant solo try in the last minute mere consolation.

Wales gifted Alexis Palisson the opening try when the French winger picked off a pass from James Hook intended for Jamie Roberts and sprinted from halfway to score under the posts. And they were fortunate not to slip further behind after fly-half Trinh-Duc sliced a simple drop-goal effort wide of the posts.

Mathieu Basteraud bulldozed through an attempted tackle from Roberts and when Wales did haul him down they conceded the penalty, allowing Morgan Parra to extend France's lead to 10-0 after 19 minutes.

Parra slotted his second penalty after Matt Rees was penalised for going off his feet, before a wild offload from Williams out of the tackle allowed Trinh-Duc to pounce on the loose ball and score another breakaway try.

Stephen Jones then kicked Wales onto the board with two penalties in quick succession after the break, but Wales' ambitions were still being undone by careless mistakes and a lack of accuracy.

Quick hands from hooker Huw Bennett allowed Williams to fire a flat pass for Lee Halfpenny. Wales had got outside the French blitz defence for the first time in the game after 61 minutes and Halfpenny seared untouched across the line.

Stephen Jones landed the conversion from the left touchline but Michalak, on as a temporary replacement for Trinh-Duc, re-established France's 10-point lead with a 70th-minute penalty.

Parra returned from the bloodbin to land a third penalty and although the game was gone, there was still time for Shane Williams to produce a historic moment of magic. Williams beat Sebastien Chabal, Para and Palisson in a stunning solo run to beat Gareth Edwards' championship try-scoring record.