Six Nations

The French cemented their place at the top of the Six Nations standings, as they held off a fast-finishing Wales to score a 26-20 win at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Friday.

In what can truly be described as a game of two halves, the French held a 20-0 lead at the break, but had to scramble desperately in the end to secure the win - which took them another step closer to not just the Six Nations crown, but also a grand slam.

Both the French tries - scored in the first-half  - were from intercepts, Alexis Palisson in the sixth minute and Francois Trinh-Duc in the 40th minute. Two conversions and two penalties gave the French a 20-0 lead at the break.

Wales injected some pace into their game in the second half, as the French seemed to go to sleep. It was not till Leigh Halfpenny's try in the 62nd minute that the visitors regained their composure - ironically at a time when they were reduced to 14 men.

At 13-20 it seemed the Welsh were going to produce another heroic comeback, but two penalties - in the 71st and 78th minutes - put the visitors 13 points clear, 26-13.

However, Shane Williams produced one more moment of magic - a weaving run that produced a brilliant individual try and brought the Welsh to within a converted try of another amazing comeback-victory.

But replacement Frederic Michalak scrambled the ball into touch from the restart to secure his team the win.

More to follow...

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: Halfpenny, Williams
Cons: S Jones 2
Pens: S Jones 2

For France:
Tries: Palisson, Trinh-Duc
Cons: Parra 2
Pens: Parra 3, Michalak

Yellow card: Morgan Parra (France, 60 - professional foul)

The Teams:

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 James Hook, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Richard Rees, 8 Ryan Jones (captain), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Deiniol James, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Rhys Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Sam Warburton, 20 Mike Phillips, 21 Andrew Bishop, 22 Tom Shanklin.

France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Frederic Michalak, 21 David Marty, 22 Marc Andreu.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)