Rugby World Cup countdown: Wales 7 France 34France will go into the World Cup with arguably the best defence of any of the leading contenders but also, far more surprisingly given their traditional disdain for the law book, the most disciplined squad of the 20 which will compete for the Webb Ellis Trophy. It's like accusing England of being exciting.
It has taken the French head coach Bernard Laporte the best part of eight years, but yesterday's emphatic victory over a Wales side that was considerably more creative than England had been against Les Bleus in the previous two weeks showed how he has turned a team of serial offenders into one that does not continually test the tolerance threshold of referees or react to perceived injustices by lashing out with fist, boot, head or all three.
France were on the back foot yesterday for long periods as Wales finally sorted out their lineout problems.
While England's straight-line running had been predictable and comfortably dealt with, Wales kept switching the angles of attacks and mixed up their options, but rarely did they penetrate the blanket of white in front of them. France's line not only kept its shape, no matter how many phases Wales took play through; tacklers generally smothered ball-carriers, preventing them from popping passes and slowing play down.
They gave the ball carrier no time to contemplate his options and the Wales outhalf James Hook, who has taken two steps at a time since his transformation in the past year from semi-professional to first choice for his country, made more mistakes yesterday than he had in his previous 14 internationals.
He tried to mix up his game, combining long passes with breaks and deft chips, but he was under constant pressure, at times transferring it to other players, and Wales missed the decision-making of Stephen Jones, who has recently resumed full training after injuring a thigh muscle.
Wales will need both in the side if they are to defeat Australia, their chief rivals at the group stage. Gareth Thomas has played this month's three friendlies at inside-centre but, not only is it a position where he is at his least intuitive, his deployment there robs his side of a physical presence in wider areas. They lost the ball in contact regularly yesterday as France, unremittingly physical from the opening minute to the last, bossed the breakdown.
In contrast, the French achieved width with ease, support runners coming from deep to run on to the ball, and it was to Wales's credit that three of the four tries they conceded (from Jerome Thion, Pierre Mignoni, Aurelien Rougerie and Sebastian Bruno) came from short range.
It was of scant consolation to Wales that their try was the best of the day, neat interplay between Martyn Williams and Mark Jones creating the space for Hook, whose litheness allowed him to touch the ball down after he had been tackled short of the line.
Hook insisted a bruising warm-up campaign will stand his team-mates in good stead for the finals which start next month.
"We have learned little bits along the way and have taken a lot out of this game again," he said. We will try to come back stronger, and we will."
Of yesterday's match Hook added: "We showed glimpses of what we can do, but they are looking very good in fairness. We dug in and never gave up."
Gareth Thomas was stretchered off in the second half following a late challenge, and Hook admitted: "It is a big concern but hopefully he will pull through."
France's squad yesterday was culled for the most part from Toulouse, Stade Francais and Biarritz, three clubs who in recent years have tended to make it to the latter stages of the European Cup. Laporte showed yesterday that in placing the greatest emphasis on defence and discipline, he has not overlooked flair and he has enviable strength in depth. The All Blacks have 30 very good reasons to be worried.
WALES:K Morgan; M Jones, J Robinson, G Thomas (capt), S Williams; J Hook, D Peel; D Jones, M Rees, C Horsman, I Gough, AW Jones, J Thomas, M Williams, A Popham (Scarlets). Replacements: M Phillips for Peel, G Jenkins for D Jones (half-time), R Thomas for Rees (45 mins), C Charvis for M Williams (52 mins), D Jones for C Horsman (61 mins), M Jaqmes for A W Jones (66 mins), C Sweeney for Hook (73 mins).
FRANCE:C Heymans; A Rougerie, Y Jauzion, D Skrela, V Clerc ; L Beauxis, P Mignoni; N Mas, D Szarzewski, P De Villiers, D Chabal, J Thion, S Betsen (capt), R Martin, I Harinordoquy. Replacements: J B Elissalde for Mignoni, S Bruno for Szarzewski, F Pelous for Thion (half-time), T Dusautoir for Harinordoquy (47 mins), D Traille for Skrela (66 mins), C Dominici for Rougerie (78), P de Villiers for Mas (80 mins).
RefereeW Barnes (England).
