France's Théo Attissogbe scores their first try in the opening match of the 2025 Six Nations rugby tournament against Wales. Josh Adams is the defender, 1 Feb, 2025. Photo: Inpho
Antoine Dupont lived up to expectations as the mercurial halfback made his Six Nations comeback in style to lead France to a 43-0 crushing of Warren Gatland-coached Wales in this year's curtain riser.
Dupont, who skipped last year's championship to prepare for the Olympic Rugby Sevens tournament, which France won, delivered a hat-trick of assists as Les Bleus handed their opponents their 13th consecutive test defeat on Saturday morning (NZT).
France, who have only won the Six Nations once since Fabien Galthie took over five years ago, prevailed with doubles by wingers Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey and other tries by Julien Marchand, Emilien Gailleton and Gregory Alldritt with Thomas Ramos scoring the rest of the points from the tee.
Next weekend will be another affair, however, with a trip to England while Wales will travel to Italy.
France encountered some stiff resistance early on but they broke the deadlock when Dupont's super crossfield kick was collected by Attissogbe for the hosts' first try.
Bielle-Biarrey quickly added another as he touched down from Ramos's final pass after a long possession spell had left the Welsh defence gasping for air.
Evan Lloyd was then sin-binned for a high tackle on Bielle-Biarrey.
Another Dupont moment led to France's third try, with the halfback drawing defenders to him before throwing the ball wide to Attissogbe, who grabbed his second of the night without much of an effort.
Dupont completed a trio of assists before the interval with a long pass for Bielle-Biarrey, who avoided a tackle before touching down again.
It was then all about limiting the losses for Wales while Galthie had the luxury to send Dupont to the bench after 50 minutes with Nolan Le Garrec taking over at halfback.
France scored their fifth try through hooker Marchand after a finely-executed lineout.
Romain Ntamack's fine crosskick found centre Gailleton, who stepped inside a tackle to add a sixth.
Ntamack then picked up a yellow card for a shoulder-to-head tackle before it turned red after review, meaning the first five, back after missing the World Cup and last year's championship through injuries, will be ruled out of at least the next fixture against England in Twickenham.
Wales also finished with 14 men after Freddie Thomas was shown a yellow for a repetition of fouls and Alldritt dived in to add a seventh for good measure with France claiming their seventh win in a row against their opponents - the biggest since their record 51-0 victory in 1998.
- Reuters
