Wales 33 France 37

A desperate tackle from French winger Aurélien Rougerie in injury-time saw France beat a spirited Welsh team 37-33 in their Lloyds TSB Six Nations clash at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

France led 24-19 at the half-time break, but they scored a controversial try through Rougerie just after the break when Wales captain Scott Quinnell spent some time in the sin bin for a dangerous challenge on French fullback Nicolas Brusque.

Rougerie chased a well-weighted grubber towards the goalline from classy inside centre Damien Traille and he and Welsh fullback Kevin Morgan arrived at the ball at the exact same time.

Rougerie claimed the try.  Morgan thought he got there first.  The Television Match Official -- Italy's Claudio Giacomel -- agreed with Rougerie and rather surprisingly he awarded the try to France (and Rougerie), which saw the visitors move into a 12-point lead.

French flyhalf Gérald Merceron, who weighed in with a points-haul of 19, soon stretched the lead to 15 points after another Welsh indiscretion, but that seemed to spur the home team on, who at that stage were without their captain and No.8 Scott Quinnell.

Quinnell's return to the field of play -- with some 30 minutes remaining on the clock -- gave Wales that extra bit of go-forward as the powerful British and Irish Lion, along with his brother Craig, Wales's first try-scorer of the day, played his heart out.

The French defence, which proved to be the difference between the two sides at the end of the day, held firm throughout most of the day, and Wales centre Andy Marinos, making his first start for his adopted country, eventually hit a hole in the French defence by jumping through a ruck before passing to hard-working flanker Nathan Budgett.

Budgett, burst over the tryline, even though it seemed that he hadn't grounded the ball properly, but Stephen Jones's conversion made the score 34-26.

Gérald Merceron soon added his fourth penalty of the day to put France 11 points clear and with regulation time running out, the French would have felt confident of securing the win.

However, to their credit, the Welsh kept at it and Jones, who weighed in with 18 points, taking his overall tally to 110 in 17 Test appearances, set up a try for Kevin Morgan's with a clever stab into the corner.  Morgan beat Xavier Garbajosa to the ball -- and Claudio Giacomel agreed.  Try to Wales and after Jones's tricky conversion, Wales were just four points down at 37-33.

Wales ran Merceron's re-start right back at the French and a clever kick from Jones trapped the French in their 22, but at least they had the line-out feed.  However, replacement French hooker Sébastien Bruno missed everyone except Scott Quinnell giving the big man a clear run to the line ...

French flanker Serge Betsen, who had a busy 80 minutes, and tighthead prop Pieter de Villiers, who also got through a mountain of work, managed to get underneath Quinnell, giving referee David McHugh no alternative but to ask the TMO again.  This time Giacomel denied Wales the try, but Wales had a five-metre scrum.

Wales managed to work the ball down their line, but the French defence held out when it mattered, especially in Rougerie's case as his textbook tackle around James's ankles saw the Bridgend wing's feet go into touch before he could ground the ball next to the corner-flag.

Man of the Match:  Tons of contenders here.  The main points-scorers of the day -- Stephen Jones and Gérald Merceron played important roles, as did Aurélien Rougerie, who scored his try at a crucial stage in the match, and of course made that try-saving tackle.  Welsh captain Scott Quinnell had his copybook blotted by spending 10 minutes in the sin bin, but in the end, French flanker Serge Betsen gets our vote.  Betsen, 27, was the senior member of the French loose trio with Imanol Harinordoquy debuting and Steven Hall playing in his second Test, but he did not shirk from his responsibilities on the pitch.  He tackled and chased for 80 minutes and his tackle on Scott Quinnell in the dying minutes of the match summed up his performance.  In the past Betsen has been used by France as an impact player, but this was certainly his best performances in 15 Tests for his country.

Moment of the Match:  Rougerie's try-saving, and ultimately match-saving, tackle on Dafydd James during extra-time.  Wales had hit the French with wave after wave of attack, and even though James had minimal space to work with, Rougerie did not let him out of his sight before dragging him into touch.  If he had missed the tackle ... he could easily have qualified for our villain of the match!

Villain of the Match:  Scott Quinnell may have been one of many contenders for the Planet Rugby Man of the Match award, but he wins our Villain of the Match award hands down!  His shoulder charge on Brusque ultimately cost his side the match as France scored 13 unanswered points.

The teams:

Wales:  1 Chris Anthony, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Spencer John, 4 Andrew Moore, 5 Craig Quinnell, 6 Nathan Budgett, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell (c), 9 Rob Howley, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Craig Morgan, 12 Tom Shanklin, 13 Andy Marinos, 14 Dafydd James, 15 Kevin Morgan
Reserves:  Ian Gough, Duncan Jones, Rhys Williams, Barry Williams
Unused:  Iestyn Harris, Dwayne Peel, Gavin Thomas

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Pieter De Villiers, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Thibault Privat, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 8 Steven Hall, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Xavier Garbajosa, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Fabien Pelous, Alexandre Audebert, Sebastien Bruno, Olivier Milloud
Unused:  Alexandre Albouy, Francois Gelez, Jimmy Marlu

Referee:  Mchugh d.t.m.

Points Scorers

Wales
Tries:  Budgett N.J. 1, Morgan K.A. 1, Quinnell J.C. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 3
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 4

France
Tries:  Rougerie A. 1, Marsh T. 2
Conv:  Merceron G. 2
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 4, Traille D. 1
Drop G.:  Merceron G. 1