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2 weeks ago

France v Wales LIVE: Six Nations 2025 result and reaction as Les Bleus thump outclassed visitors

France 43-0 Wales: The returning Antoine Dupont orchestrated a ruthless first-half display from the tournament favourites as Warren Gatland’s men had their losing streak extended

Harry Latham-Coyle
at the Stade de France
,Luke Baker
Friday 31 January 2025 22:24 GMT
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England head coach Steve Borthwick previews Six Nations at launch in Rome

France and Wales kicked off the Six Nations under the Friday night lights in Paris and another thrilling edition of rugby’s greatest annual championship begun with Les Bleus routing their outclassed visitors 43-0.

Warren Gatland’s side are winless since the 2023 World Cup having gone the entirety of 2024 without Test success, and never looked like breaking that duck in Paris despite a promising first 10 minutes. After that period, France stepped things up and ran riot against their young opponents.

The hosts welcomed back captain Antoine Dupont after his absence was keenly felt last year and the world’s best player proved exactly why he has that title with a scintillating first-half display that saw him directly assist three of the four tries in the opening 40 minutes.

Les Bleus ran in three more tries after the break but didn’t enjoy a perfect evening as Romain Ntamack was sent off late on for a reckless hit to the head of Ben Thomas, meaning he may well miss the next couple of games for Fabien Galthie’s side as they chase just a second tournament triumph since 2010.

Relive all of the action from the opening clash at the Stade de France in our live blog below:

2 weeks ago

Wales head coach Warren Gatland provides an update on injured pair Owen Watkin and Aaron Wainwright

“We have to get them assessed, but both of them don’t look brilliant at the moment. Owen [Watkin] is in a brace and it could be an ACL; Aaron [Wainwright] needs another head injury assessment and has got quite a nasty gash.

“[Next week’s game against Italy] is an important game for Wales, it is not about where it ranks for me. The players have worked hard in the last couple of weeks and we are pretty aware of how important next week is for us. I thought there were some positives, our scrum was good tonight, some really good defensive sets. It is about where can we fix up and be game smart to keep putting the opposition under pressure.”

Harry Latham-Coyle31 January 2025 23:00
2 weeks ago

Wales head coach Warren Gatland speaks after his side's defeat

“it was probably a little bit frustrating. We tried to go out with a positive attitude, and I thought we started well. But we put ourselves under pressure at times by overplaying. They were a little bit more experienced in a couple of areas. But I can’t question the effort of the players out there. We just didn’t help ourselves with some turnovers.

“International rugby is tight, particularly when you are playing a quality side like France. I thought they put us under pressure. When we did go to the air, we got some reward ourselves, and we probably needed to use that opportunity a little bit more. That is some of the game management that some of the players will learn from.

“The players are disappointed, but they realise what a quality side they were up against. You can’t question how hard they tried.”

(AFP via Getty Images)
Harry Latham-Coyle31 January 2025 22:58
2 weeks ago

Reaction: Gregory Alldritt reflects on French victory

Alldritt said: “It was a big team performance today, incredible to play in this stadium, our fans are outstanding.

"The key was to play as a team, we've got a lot of individual really good players, and we wanted to play as a team.

"I think we did well, we got forwards and backs tries. We are happy with the win tonight, but we’ve only done 20 per cent of the job, we've got four more games to go."

Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:41
2 weeks ago

REPORT: Peerless Antoine Dupont leads fabulous French to Six Nations victory as Wales hit another low

The Paris symphony orchestra are back in session. Forced away from their suburban concert hall last year by the Olympics, on their Six Nations to the Stade de France this fabulous French side giving the capital crowd a night to remember.

Twelve months ago, in Marseille they had played all the wrong notes in the wrong order to be badly beaten by Ireland; Wales may not be in the class of the two-time defending champions but this was a drastic improvement.

They have the capacity to play far better than they did in this 43-0 thrashing. It is their ability to blend a mighty percussion section with the softer strings that marks France out as tournament favourites, but the difference in this fixture, and perhaps to this tournament, was their masterful maestro of a conductor. The peerless Antoine Dupont, absent last year en route to securing Olympic gold, is back where he belongs.

Read Harry Latham-Coyle’s full report from the Stade de France:

Peerless Antoine Dupont leads fabulous French to victory as Wales hit a new low

France 43-0 Wales: The maestro of a scrum half led the tournament favourites to an opening victory as Warren Gatland’s side were kept scoreless
Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:27
2 weeks ago

Romain Ntamack sent off for France

The only real negative for France was the red card for Romain Ntamack after he caught Ben Thomas in the head with his shoulder.

He might miss the round two game against England now. Here’s the incident, which was upgraded from the initial yellow

Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:22
2 weeks ago

Romain Ntamack red card: Why was the France fly half sent off against Wales in the Six Nations?

France fly half Romain Ntamack was sent off late in their one-sided win over Wales in the opening clash of the 2025 Six Nations.

Ntamack made high and forceful contact to the head of Ben Thomas, with a swift review of the footage called for by the television match official.

Having watched the challenge again, Paul Williams produced a yellow card having concluded that the challenge met the threshold required. It was then reviewed by the Foul Play Review Officer via the bunker system to determine if an upgrade was required.

“There was a high degree of danger and no mitigation,” Williams informed French on-field captain Gregory Alldritt, producing a red card. Under a new trial this Six Nations, France would have been able to replace the wing after 20 minutes had the game not concluded.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Why was Romain Ntamack sent off for France against Wales in the Six Nations?

The France playmaker was dismissed after a high tackle on Wales counterpart Ben Thomas
Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:17
2 weeks ago

FULL-TIME! France 43-0 Wales

And that’s that. France nil Wales in the first game of the 2025 Six Nations!

They were too strong and Antoine Dupont inspired a first-half demolition that put the game to bed. England at Twickenham next week may be a bigger challenge.

Wales battled hard enough but their losing streak extends to 13 games and their game against Italy next week is huge.

(AFP via Getty Images)
Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:13
2 weeks ago

France 43-0 Wales, 80 mins

Into the last knocking here. France have been at a different level to Wales today, in truth.

Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:09
2 weeks ago

TRY! France 43-0 Wales (Gregory Alldritt, 78 mins)

France probing for a seventh try. Within five metres and they keep it with the big lads - Colombe has a go, then Baille burrows and is inches short.

Gregory Alldritt runs in when he spots the ball at the back while Le Garrec is tied up in the ruck, picks it up and snipes to the right, diving over for the try. Good low position from the France No 8.

Le Garrec errs again with the conversion - the French kicking has faltered in this second half but they won’t care too much

Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:08
2 weeks ago

SIN-BIN! France 38-0 Wales, 76 mins

This match will end as 14 vs 14. Freddie Thomas the latest Welshman to commit a penalty and Wales have been warned, so it’s a yellow card for the replacement lock.

Luke Baker31 January 2025 22:05

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