By Paul French - 09/03/04
March 19 2004

Wales were made to pay for their deficiencies up front as a late flurry failed to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.

With half an hour on the Millennium stadium clock, the Six Nations looked set for the weekend it had been craving, unfortunately Wales could not make it a trio of upsets.

Had the men in red displayed more composure in the dying stages, an unlikely draw could have been snatched. Martyn Williams' fumble in the French 22 though ended any chance of derailing the visitors grand slam hopes.

Minutes earlier Williams coming off the bench, dived over to score from a Stephen Jones pass to set up a frantic finale. In reality though the match always looked well out of Welsh reach, especially with a scrum that was well and truly taken to the cleaners.

In a bitty first half there were encouraging signs, as the Welsh forwards made several concerted surges into French territory, and the boot of Stephen Jones slotted four penalties over. France were looking off colour, in particular Freddie Michalak, but the outside half was to strike a crucial blow with just seconds left before the interval. A well telegraphed move, saw Michalak shaped to pass left before pivoting and going to the blindside where Harindquay was worked in after an overlap.

With it now glaringly obvious that the Welsh scrum was falling apart at the seams, an up hill struggle awaited in the second half.

That hill turned into something of a mountain with Elissade adding two more penalties to make it 19-12. Another Jones penalty proved only to be an interruption for Elissade's scoring spree, this time though it was seven points that at the time appeared to seal the match in the visitors favor. Dafydd Jones struggled to cope at the back of a disintegrating scrum, Serge Betsen pounced and showed the vision to slip a pass out the back of his hand (albeit forward) to Elissade who had a clear 50 yard sprint down the touchline to score. Toulouse scrum half Elissade added another penalty shortly afterwards, to make it 29-15. 24 of those French points belonged to man of the Elissade.

Sensing the game was slipping away, Wales through caution to the wind and attacked at will.

A lack of composure came back to haunt Hansen and his team, as several chances went begging through the panicked approach. Gareth Thomas' switch with Jonathan Thomas at a scrum right in front of the French line proved costly, as the full backs lack of experience at flanker proved costly as the ball slipped harmlessly out of the side of the scrum for Elissade to punt down field.

At times the Welsh midfield closely resembled Piccadilly circus, the confusion caused led to a Rhys Williams' effort being ruled out for crossing. Christophe Dominici knows no end to his humiliation after his embarrassing slip against the Italians two weeks ago in Paris, the winger must hold his head in shame, after the deliberance in which he slowed down Welsh line out ball in his 22, on more than one occasion.

Michael Owen and Colin Charvis were outstanding from a Welsh point of view, both will have to be on top form, along with the introduction of an out and out tighthead if Wales are even to stand the slightest of chances in two weeks time against an expected English backlash.

What are your thoughts? Share them on the Message Board