France turned on the flair with a devastating eight-try show of power as they thrashed Wales 54-12 in their Six Nations meeting at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday.
Wing Theo Attissogbe scored twice in the second half but it was fly-half Matthieu Jalibert who orchestrated France’s biggest ever score against Wales, improving on the 51 they scored at Wembley in 1998.
The Bordeaux-Begles no. 10 showed off his pace and skills as he scored one try and teed up three others as France made it two wins from two.
After two rounds they are the only side that can still claim a Grand Slam while Wales sit bottom of the table with two thumping defeats.
Steve Tandy’s side have won just two of their last 25 Tests and have not won in the Six Nations for three years.
The French came into the match on the back of an equally eye-catching win at home to Ireland and the breadth of the their game and the pace and power of their runners were far too much for a Welsh side that suffered a similar 48-7 hammering at Twickenham last week.
The new centre pairing of Pau teammates Emilien Gailleton and Fabien Brau-Boirie both touched down in the first half with Louis Bielle-Biarrey also dotting down for his 23rd try in his 24th Test.
Wales responded with a try by Rhys Carre but France dominated the second period as Attissogbe scored twice with further scores for hooker Julian Marchand and lock Charles Ollivon, both of whom were playing their 50th Tests.
Mason Grady picked up a consolation try for Wales in the 78th minute.
– Brau-Boirie scores on debut –
The first try came after just 90 seconds, Antoine Dupont and Attisogbe combining down the right, feeding to Ollivon who presented Gailleton with the easiest of run-ins.
The second came 10 minutes later when Jalibert sent a perfectly-flighted crosskick over to an unmarked Bielle-Biarrey.
Two minutes later, Jalibert showed his pace as he cut through the Wales midfield before popping the ball inside to 20-year-old Brau-Boirie who went through to score on his debut in the centre.
Wales refused to buckle, and forced their way up to the French line where they were awarded a penalty.
Last week captain Dewi Lake made the fundamental error of forgetting to tap before charging at the English line. This time the skipper got it right and from the ensuing ruck, Rhys Carre barged his way over.
France threatened with every attack but the Welsh defence stood firm until a minute before the break when a casual grubber from a turnover ricocheted off a blue shirt and bounced into the arms of Attisogbe.
A quick inside pass from the wing sent Jalibert away for the score which pocketed an attacking bonus point.
It took the French all of four minutes to get on the board in the second half, a 5-metre line-out resulting in hooker Julian Marchand, winning his 50th cap, crashing over.
Shortly after, Bielle-Biarrey burnt down the left wing before feeding inside for Attisogbe to finish.
The Pau wing claimed his double when another Jalibert crosskick found him in acres of space on the right.
France posted the half-century when Ollivon went over on the hour.
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