France survive in Cardiff

France held off a second-half fightback from Wales to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive with a 26-20 victory at the Millennium Stadium.

Breakaway tries from Alexis Palisson and Francois Trinh-Duc helped Les Bleus open a 20-0 advantage at half-time.

But Stephen Jones landed two penalties early in the second half to give Wales hope of repeating their miraculous recovery after trailing Scotland by 12 points at the same venue two weeks ago.

And it looked a distinct possibility when Leigh Halfpenny's 62nd-minute try was quickly followed by Morgan Parra being sent to the sin-bin.

At that point Wales trailed 20-13 but France produced a spirited effort to avoid conceding during the 10 minutes they were a man down.

And penalties from replacement Frederic Michalak and Parra then brought an end to Wales' comeback.

There was still time for Shane Williams to score his 50th try for Wales, a brilliant solo effort in the last minute that reduced the final margin of defeat to just six points.

Blitz

Wales found themselves in a deep hole at half-time after failing to cope with the physicality of France's blitz defence in the opening 40 minutes.

Brive winger Palisson opened the scoring in the sixth minute, racing over after intercepting a James Hook pass on halfway.

Scrum-half Parra landed the conversion and, with Wales repeatedly falling foul of South African referee Jonathan Kaplan at the breakdown, added two penalties to put France 13-0 up after 20 minutes.

Wales became increasingly reliant on Williams producing some magic in a desperate bid to score before the interval.

He attacked down the blindside after Wales won some clean lineout ball on the 22 but France bided their time, soaked up the pressure and cleared their lines.

Williams tried again but his wild offload out of the tackle allowed Trinh-Duc to pounce on the loose ball and return it for France's second try.

Jones opened Wales' account through a 46th-minute penalty after an impressive counter-attack ended when Luke Charteris spilled possession.

It was much brighter from Wales though, and Jones' second penalty lifted the capacity crowd who had been left stunned by the French first-half masterclass.

And things got even better after 62 minutes when Williams appeared in midfield and rifled a scoring pass to Halfpenny. Jones' touchline conversion made it 20-13 and set up a pulsating finish.

France were close to full scale crisis when Parra was sent to the sin-bin for deliberate off-side.

Wasted

Jamie Roberts then made a sparkling break to keep Welsh hopes alive, yet he failed to find one of his supporting runners and a golden chance went begging.

Michalak came off the bench to give France breathing space with a 72nd-minute penalty and the result was sealed when Parra, now back from his unscheduled break, slotted another three points to take his personal tally to 13.

There was still just enough time for Williams to provide a late flash of genius to break Gareth Edwards' Welsh record of 18 touchdowns in the Five/Six Nations.

France can now secure a first championship clean sweep since 2004 if they win their remaining two games against Italy and England, both in Paris.