Six Nations: Wales lose to France

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, The Welsh side were beaten by France 32-30

Wales Rugby Union faced a crushing defeat against France on Super Saturday, causing them to miss out on the chance of securing their fifth Grand Slam victory.

The Welsh side were beaten 32-30 in Paris and they could also miss out on the Six Nations title.

Wales led 30-20 with 72 minutes gone and stood on the cusp of a second Grand Slam in just three seasons, worlds apart from their performance during the 2020 competition where the team won just one out of it's five games, finishing in fifth position.

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, The French team celebrate after their victory against Wales

However, Wales weren't able to hold onto their lead and their Grand Slam dreams quickly slipped their fingers.

Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams received Wales' first yellow cards of the entire Six Nations, reducing them to just 13 men.

France stepped up their game, scoring first through their captain Charles Ollivon, and then deep into added time Brice Dulin touched down, shattering Welsh dreams of a first Grand Slam secured on foreign soil since 1971.

"It's quite a numb feeling really," Wales coach Wayne Pivac said.

"The boys have put in such a fantastic effort. We were down on players at that point. We were quite down on the penalty count at that point, 15-5 I think it was.

"We were on a final warning and we lost two players so it was very difficult to defend at that point, 13 on 14.

"The guys had done tremendously well to hold out the French attempts at the goal line, which were several in the last few minutes.

"But it was just one too many."

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Wales led for the majority of the match, but France came through to secure an impressive victory

Despite the defeat, Wales is still in with a chance of winning the championship title overall.

The French side must beat must now beat Scotland in the final game of the tournament which takes place on Friday. They will need to get achieve a points difference of at least 21 with a four-try bonus point to be crowned this year's champions.

"I hope they don't," Pivac said with a laugh when he was asked about France's chances of pipping Wales to the title.

"But we'll be watching eagerly and we'll just wait and see what happens."