Wales would be unable to stem a Les Bleus tide in a one-sided second half despite tries from winger Rio Dyer, scrum-half Tomos Williams and a first score for Scarlets centre Joe Roberts had given Gatland’s side a 24-23 just after the interval.
The Welsh would fade and find themselves outmuscled by a physical French side looking to bounce back from their shock draw against Italy last time out.
Racing 92 pair Gael Fickou and Nolann Le Garrec, imposing prop Georges-Henri Colombe, veteran lock Romain Taofifenua and replacement Maxime Lucu all would go over the try line for the visitors, whilst fly-half Thomas Ramos kicked 20 points in a statement victory.
Wales have not finished bottom of the championship since losing all five games in 2003, but that is the prospect facing Gatland’s young side ahead of next Saturday’s showdown against the Azzurri at Principality Stadium where winning for Gatland is now a must.
Speaking after the match head coach Warren Gatland said:
“We were up 24-23 but we didn’t manage the game with turnovers and we’re disappointing with some soft points given away.
“We probably overplayed. When we were down by six points and you’re thinking just play territory and make it easy for yourselves, but we hurt ourselves and did not play well enough in that last period.
“France put our scrum under pressure, that’s something we’ve been working hard on and we’re not there at the moment. I thought our lineout was excellent and our line speed could have been better.
“The plan was if we went multiple phases then we’d cause them lots of problems and we did.
“But we didn’t help ourselves with some of the mistakes for us.”
Welsh captain Dafydd Jenkins added:
“We felt like the French would fatigue later on with their big pack. It didn’t go to plan, but we’ll look at it and come back next week.
“We were excited about the physical battle, but we came off second best.
“The boys give everything week in, week out and I don’t think it was fatigue, everyone will play all day for their country but it’s just the accuracy.
“Next week is massive for us because we don’t want to finish bottom.
“Italy have won here before so we’re not going to take them for granted but we’ve got to reflect on this game and see how we can be better.”
[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]
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