An hour before the start of the meeting, Fabien Galthié, coach of the Blues, was not very talkative at the microphone of France Televisions.
Very tense, he was content to say that he hoped that the Blues would come out "the match" against formidable Welsh who came to win, Saturday, March 20, a Grand Slam in France.
His players listened to him partially, signing a rambling victory (32-30) which allows them to stay in the race for the final victory in the 6 Nations Tournament.
The try scored by Brice Dulin in the 82nd minute allowed them to regain the score and obtain a very important offensive bonus point.
Because if the Blues beat the Scots on March 26 with a new point of defense and a gap of 20 points, they will then be able to cap the Welsh on the post to win the Tournament.
Very enterprising, the French wereted no time in scoring their first points.
After a very long first sequence of play, they settled in the Welsh camp and put the opposing defense to the test.
She cracked in the 6th minute on a charge from the overpowered Romain Taofifenua who scored the first try of the Blues, transformed by the opener Mathieu Jalibert (7-0)
This very open meeting gave rise to an incredible crossover between France and Wales, each team scoring in turn: the Welsh in the 12th minute, the French in the 14th then again the Red Dragons in the 18th.
During these first 20 disheveled minutes, the two opponents, tied on score (14-14), showed that they did not want to let go in this meeting
Two tries in the last five minutes
The standoff gradually turned in favor of the Welsh who monopolized the ball.
Guilty of errors in defense, the Blues clung to the red waves, conceding only one penalty (14-17).
They lost their opener Mathieu Jalibert, injured on a tackle and replaced by Romain Ntamack in the 29th minute.
But they did not crack and found the going at the end of the first half, Romain Ntamack bringing the teams back to 17 everywhere on a penalty.
The French had to come back to the pitch with much more conviction and precision.
The opposite happened and they lost the thread against the very convincing Welsh who struck another blow on the head of the Blues, scoring a third try in the 50th minute.
Led 20 to 30, the French did not give up and tried to cross the defensive barrier of the Welsh.
After several unsuccessful attempts, they finally managed to do it in the 67th but the test scored by Brice Dulin was refused for a fault committed beforehand by the Frenchman Paul Willemse who was then given a red card.
Despite their numerical inferiority, the French insisted until the end.
They often pushed the Welsh to the fault, sanctioned by two yellow cards.
And their efforts paid off in the final five minutes of the game, with a try from captain Charles Ollivon in the 77th minute.
And on the last action of the match, back Brice Dulin in turn flattened the ball in the Welsh in-goal.
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