Wales 3 France 36

Bernard Laporte's first game in charge of France ended in a comfortable victory as the World Cup runners-up brushed aside a lacklustre Wales side 36-3 at the Millennium Stadium.

Laporte, who succeeded Jean-Claude Skrela after the World Cup in November, saw his side produce a solid, professional performance with occasional flashes of inspiration in front of a sell-out 72,500 crowd.

France dominated most of the match but led just 9-3 at half-time and had to wait for nearly an hour before they managed to cross the Welsh line.

But two tries in quick succession by flanker Olivier Magne and full-back Thomas Castaignede -- both converted by fly-half Christope Lamaison -- effectively killed off the challenge from Graham Henry's side.

Right-wing Emile Ntamack scored a third try for France late on while Lamaison kicked a total of 15 points including four penalties, three conversions and a drop goal.  Wales' only points -- the first of the match -- came from a Neil Jenkins penalty.

The Welsh, with new caps in Australian-born centre Jason Jones-Hughes,lock Ian Gough and a new skipper in prop David Young, were looking for a hat-trick of wins over France for the first time since their golden days of the 1970s.

But they showed little invention against a France side fielding eight of the team which lost the Rugby World Cup final to Australia on their previous visit to the Millennium Stadium last November.

Castaignede, who destroyed Wales from fly-half two years ago, started at full back for the first time in his international career.

Wales took the lead after 13 minutes when fly-half Jenkins, the highest points scorer in international rugby, kicked a 35m penalty after the French had been caught offside.

France were forced to make a change at centre midway through the half as Richard Dourthe, who had been up all night with a stomach virus, was replaced by Brive's David Venditti.

But within a couple of minutes the visitors -- determined to atone for last season when they finished bottom of the Five Nations -- were level thanks to a drop goal from Lamaison.

The Brive fly-half booted his side into the lead for the first time just a couple of minutes later from a simple penalty opportunity and stretched it to six points with another in the 36th minute.

Lamaison missed a third penalty five minutes after the turnaround but made no mistake moments later to put the French 12-3 in front.

The pressure finally told on the home side as the French scored two tries following lightning breaks from deep in their own territory.

Firstly, Castaignede set off on a searching run and was hauled down a few yards short of the line but Magne was on hand to gather and touch down.

Two minutes after Lamaison's conversion Castaignede made sure of a French triumph when he went over in the ledft corner.

Lamaison converted and then added his fourth penalty before wing Emile Ntamack latched onto a loose Welsh pass, to go over for France's third try and seal the rout.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Jason Jones-Hughes, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Geraint Lewis, Richard Smith, Shane Williams, Spencer John, Mike Voyle, Barry Williams
Unused:  Stephen Jones

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Legi Matiu, 6 Abdelatif Benazzi, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Emile Ntamack, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Thomas Lombard, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Thomas Castaignede
Reserves:  Serge Betsen Tchoua, Pieter De Villiers, Raphael Ibanez, Thomas Lievremont, Alain Penaud, David Venditti
Unused:  Christophe Laussucq

Attendance:  72500
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 1

France
Tries:  Castaignede T. 1, Magne O. 1, Ntamack E. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 3
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 4
Drop G.:  Lamaison C. 1