6 NATIONS RUGBY TEST: Wales and France Clash

19.03.2011
Wales v France in Paris (6 Nations)

Venue: Stade de France

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Preview
Things are not at all well in France. The fall-out from last weekends historic defeat to Italy has fallen squarely upon head coach Marc Lièvremont. Is his job in jeopardy? Well, it could be. Especially if France loses again. One would think so close to the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals such a scenario would be unthinkable. The reality is that France are simply not playing well enough.

The saving fact for France is that it, during this competition, never plays two poor games in a row.

Wales has won the last three test matches on end. They are a long way from actually winning the 6 Nations Championship but they have emerged as the best of a rather sorry bunch. A win tomorrow would do much towards giving Wales much needed confidence leading up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Marc Lièvremont, French head coach. Is his job in jeopardy?

Last Five Encounters
26.02.2010 France 26-20 in Cardiff (6 Nations)
27.02.2009 France 21-16 in Paris (6 Nations)
15.03.2008 Wales 29-12 in Cardiff (6 Nations)
26.08.2007 France 34-7 in Cardiff (World Cup Warm-up)
24.02.2007 France 32-21 in Paris (6 Nations)

Wales last defeated France in Paris in 2005, winning 24-18.

Wales Last Five
12.03.2011 v Ireland W 19-13 in Cardiff (6 Nations)
26.02.2011 v Italy W 24-16 in Rome (6 Nations)
12.02.2011 v Scotland W 24-6 at Murrayfield (6 Nations)
04.02.2011 v England L 19-26 in Cardiff (6 Nations)
27.11.2010 v New Zealand L 25-37 in Cardiff

France Last Five
12.03.2011 v Italy L 21-22 in Rome (6 Nations; Garibaldi Trophy)
26.02.2011 v England L 9-17 at Twickenham (6 Nations)
13.02.2011 v Ireland W 25-22 in Dublin (6 Nations)
05.02.2011 v Scotland W 34-21 in Paris (6 Nations)
27.11.2010 v Australia L16-59 in Paris

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-France 6th, Wales 7th
Europe Table-France 3rd, Wales 5th

IRB Ranking Points
France 81.10, Wales 80.51

Prediction: France by 7 points

Teams

France
15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy,
7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, Capt. 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements
16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Pascal Papé, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Fabien Estebanez, 22 Yoann Huget.
Head Coach: Marc Lièvremont

Wales
15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 James Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 George North, 10 James Hook, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Samuel Warburton,
6 Daniel Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, Capt. 1 Paul James.
Replacements
16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Robert McCusker, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Morgan Stoddart.
Head Coach: Warren Gatland