The opening try, though, finally arrived when a French attack broke down in midfield, Jonathan Davies kicked cleverly into space and a sprinting North, who initially miskicked with his right foot when he attempted to tap the ball over the line, still had time to gather and touch down. “There’s been a bit of mickey-taking for that in the changing room”.
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Charteris was not involved for Racing 92 against Grenoble last Saturday, and his loss will be a blow to unbeaten Wales, given the impression he made in opening Six Nations appointments with Ireland and Scotland.
High-ball jinks – Both Dan Biggar and Liam Williams again showed their strength under the high ball with commanding takes, either from their own kicks or French ones.
This week’s showdown will go a long way to shaping the rest of the competition – whoever wins the match will likely end up with a title decider against England later in the competition, but where will the game be won and lost?
After four years with no clear direction under Philippe Saint-Andre, France have done well since Noves took over following last year’s World Cup.
Noves has made five changes for the game against Wales as he looks to keep up his 100 per cent record as French coach.
Wales were protecting a winning streak against Les Bleus that went back to the 2011 World Cup semi-final while the visitors hadn’t won in Cardiff since the year before that last-four clash. France was camped on Wales’ tryline between the 51st and 63rd minutes but came away with no points in that tense spell. That would then potentially open up space to create the room that we are all craving for at the moment. “He’s big enough and strong enough to deal with that, he’ll just have to get on with the game and take that as a compliment”.
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Dan Biggar didn’t get off to the best start however, he missed a very kickable early penalty and was relieved to see his opposite number’s kick trail to the wrong side of the left upright just minutes later.
It was a superb night for man of the match Gareth Davies, who led the Welsh attack from scrum-half, but the most satisfied of all the coaches will be defence coach Shaun Edwards, as the whole team worked hard to repel the French for large portions of the second half.
After a third penalty from Biggar in the 43rd, Wales grabbed the crucial try in ultimately farcical circumstances.
The Wales winger capitalised on a fantastic Jonathan Davies kick, showing great pace to get to the ball. North needed to simply nudge the ball over the line but missed it only for Plisson to hack the ball into him and the wing to gratefully dot down.
North gleefully picked up and barged his way over.
Guirado’s late try, said Gatland, was “only the second try we’ve conceded against France in six matches”.
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France responded with 12 minutes of solid pressure near Wales’ tryline that didn’t yield a point.
