Antoine Dupont returned to the Six Nations after a two-year absence to tear Wales apart as France claimed a dominant 43-0 victory in the opening match of the 2025 Six Nations Championship.
The 28-year-old missed the 2024 tournament as he began his journey to Olympic gold, but Les Bleus’ superstar was back in the saddle on Friday and was unsurprisingly influential during his 50 minutes on the field.
Dupont finished with three assists as the French ended the game as a contest after 40 minutes thanks to two tries each from Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
You could not criticise the effort of the Welsh but they were well and truly outclassed and Julien Marchand, Emilien Gailleton and Gregory Alldritt all crossed the whitewash in the second period to seal the win.
It appeared to be the perfect start for Fabien Galthie’s men but Romain Ntamack slightly took the gloss off the victory when he was correctly sent off for a shoddy hit on Ben Thomas.
A ban duly awaits for Ntamack, likely leaving France without their first choice fly-half for the big Six Nations games against England and Ireland.
Few expected much from the visitors heading into this clash and those fears were eventually confirmed, but for a quarter there were some promising signs.
There was some nice variation from Thomas, Jac Morgan carried hard and early replacement Tommy Reffell was an absolute pest at the breakdown.
France, by contrast, were rather ragged early on, with even the great Dupont not quite finding his range, but that was soon rectified as the game headed towards the 20-minute mark.
The hosts’ half-back duly took centre stage and, after a spell of pressure, the superstar scrum-half’s inch-perfect crossfield kick was collected by Attissogbe and the young wing had the easy task of touching down.
Soon after it became a 14-point buffer as the hosts turned the Welsh defence inside out, allowing Thomas Ramos to throw the ball behind the back of an advancing Josh Adams for Bielle-Biarrey to scamper over.
Wales’ lack of quality was being exposed but so was their lack of belief. Warren Gatland’s men rather resembled Italy of yesteryear, with their willingness and work ethic admirable but the confidence has ultimately been shot after 13 successive Test defeats.
France could do as they pleased and they had the bonus-point wrapped up before the break. Evan Lloyd’s sin-binning certainly didn’t help Wales’ cause and with even more space to exploit, Dupont scythed through their rearguard to feed Attissogbe for his second score.
The 20-year-old was then joined on two tries for the game by a player just one year his senior when Bielle-Biarrey crossed the whitewash on the stroke of half-time.
Once again, Dupont played a key role, with his long pass finding the Bordeaux-Begles flyer out wide, but the hard work was done up front thanks to the pack’s dominant driving maul. That drew in the defence to allow the playmaker to fire the ball out to the left where Bielle-Biarrey was lurking.
After Ramos kicked his fourth conversion, France held a dominant lead at the break and they could enjoy the second period.
The home side maintained their intensity immediately after the interval, albeit this time without the ball, as Wales began to look slightly more threatening in attack.
France withstood their efforts, though, and when Les Bleus put together their first real attack of the second half Marchand touched down from close range.
With the game done and dusted, the match became scrappy, but France still managed to show their vast array of skills as Gailleton finished off a flowing move.
It was all going swimmingly for the hosts but Ntamack was red carded when his shoulder connected with the head of Thomas.
That reckless act did not affect France on Friday, with Alldritt completing the win with a final try, but it could have consequences for Galthie’s side later on in the tournament.
The teams
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Théo Attissogbe, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Grégory Alldritt, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Alexandre Roumat, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Mickaël Guillard, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Émilien Gailleton
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Ben Thomas, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 James Botham, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Dan Edwards, 23 Blair Murray
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Chris Busby (Ireland), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
