Preview: Wales v France

The 2020 Guinness Six Nations has gone almost perfectly to plan for France so far, as the Fabien Galthié begun with impressive home wins over England and Italy.

But now they head on the road for the first time this Championship and to Cardiff, to face reigning Grand Slam champions Wales.

It’s a venue that hasn’t treated Les Bleus kindly in recent times, with their last victory at Principality Stadium coming back in 2010 – also the last time France won the Grand Slam.

Wales also have the recent head-to-head advantage regardless of location, winning eight of the last nine contests between the sides, and will be eager to bounce back from a frustrating 24-14 loss in Ireland last time out.

Galthié has shuffled his back-line ahead of the trip with Virimi Vakatawa returning from injury to take his place alongside Arthur Vincent in the centres, meaning Gaël Fickou shifts out to the wing – where he featured the last time France travelled to Cardiff in 2018.

That switch comes following Vincent Rattez’s broken fibula that ended his Championship, while Damian Penaud’s calf injury has kept him out of contention.

France’s starting XV is otherwise unchanged from the victory over Italy, while Wayne Pivac has made two changes to try and keep Wales’s title defence on track.

Gareth Davies is in for Tomos Williams at scrum-half and Ross Moriarty replaces Aaron Wainwright in the back row, while uncapped lock Will Rowlands is among the replacements.

WHAT THEY SAID

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac: “If we can start well, we’ve been a bit slow out of the blocks, then that experience will hopefully come through for us and will test some of the inexperienced players in their side.

“In tight games, in pressure moments, you can’t beat the experience. We’ve got some players there who have been in these tight games in the last few years and have come out on the right side of the ledger. We know what it takes

“To win Championships you’ve got to have world-class players and they’ve got a few of those so they are going to be very dangerous.

“This Saturday is a big test for both teams. For us it’s to keep us alive in the Championship and for France, it’s their first game away. We know we’ve got a better performance in us.”

France head coach Fabien Galthié: “With Vincent Rattez being injured and Damian Penaud not being able to play, we decided to reinstate Virimi Vakatawa in the centres and to leave Arthur Vincent, who made a very good match against Italy, also in the centres.

“With his experience, Gaël Fickou has already played on the wing and he has the physical ability to face George North with his imposing size, who likes to play one on one.

“This choice is also motivated by a certain consistency and a desire not to change things around too much.

“The World Cup [defeat to Wales] is the past. Today, we focus on our strengths, on a different working method.

“Our players have evolved and it’s another story. We are going to Cardiff to be respected, we’re going to Cardiff to show who we are. We want French rugby to be respected.”

KEY BATTLE – DAVIES V DUPONT

“Antoine Dupont is probably one of the most in-form players in the world.”

Those were the words of Gareth Davies in the build-up to this Saturday’s clash and now the Wales scrum-half will be tasked with containing his opposite number in Cardiff.

By now, Dupont’s unique attacking skillset is well-documented and the stats, powered by AWS, bear out his importance to Les Bleus, having racked up 138 metres with ball in hand and completed six offloads – both more than any other No.9 in the Championship so far.

Davies has been handed the Wales scrum-half jersey ahead of Tomos Williams and in addition to keeping Dupont quiet, the 29-year-old will also need to dictate the hosts’ attacking tempo.

With Shaun Edwards, Wales’s defence coach for 11 years, now in the same role with France, Davies knows the sort of ferocious defence to expect from Les Bleus and will be hoping to provide the platform to help overcome it.

STATS – POWERED BY AWS

• Each side have won five times in Cardiff, while their last meeting there saw Wales run out single-point victors – the only time there’s been a single point between the sides in Guinness Six Nations history.
• Wales (9.5) and France (8.0) are the sides who lead the Championship in terms of opposition 22 entries per match. While Wales hold the slight advantage here, it’s France who produce a better points-per-entry ratio: 3.38 points compared to the Welsh average of 2.63 points.
• Wales have won 100% of their mauls in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations – the leading mark among nations. The Championship average is at just 83.3%.
• Bernard le Roux (44) has made more tackles than any other player in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations and France have amassed 54 dominant tackles so far – 17 more than any other nation.

FANTASY WATCH

France boast the two stars of the official Guinness Six Nations Fantasy Rugby game so far, with back-rowers Grégory Alldritt and Charles Ollivon the top scorers in the entire competition.

At 17.4 and 17.6 stars respectively, they don’t come cheap, but have been more than worth the investment so far.

A cheaper alternative to target who could score highly for Les Bleus is Anthony Bouthier (11.5 stars) – the man with the lowest price of any starting full-back in the Guinness Six Nations.

For Wales, Justin Tipuric (16.8 stars) has been a fantasy superstar in the back row, while his fellow flanker Ross Moriarty (14.4 stars) is a more cost-savvy alternative.

Josh Adams (18.2 stars) is the most expensive player in the game but has been a guaranteed source of points so far, while their other starting winger, George North is a cheaper option at 15.5 stars but with just as high a ceiling.

TEAMS

Wales: 15. Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), 14. George North (Ospreys), 13. Nick Tompkins (Saracens), 12. Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), 11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues), 10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints), 9. Gareth Davies (Scarlets), 1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets), 2. Ken Owens (Scarlets), 3. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues), 4. Jake Ball (Scarlets), 5. Alun Wyn Jones (c) (Ospreys), 6. Ross Moriarty (Dragons), 7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), 8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby)

Replacements: 16. Ryan Elias (Scarlets), 17. Rob Evans (Scarlets), 18. Leon Brown (Dragons), 19. Will Rowlands (Wasps), 20. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), 21. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues), 22. Jarrod Evans (Cardiff Blues), 23. Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets)

France: 15. Anthony Bouthier (Montpellier), 14. Teddy Thomas (Racing 92), 13. Virimi Vakatawa (Racing 92), 12. Arthur Vincent (Montpellier), 11. Gaël Fickou (Stade Français), 10. Romain Ntamack (Toulouse), 9. Antoine Dupont (Toulouse), 1. Cyril Baille (Toulouse), 2. Julien Marchand (Toulouse), 3. Mohamed Haouas (Montpellier), 4. Bernard Le Roux (Racing 92), 5. Paul Willemse (Montpellier), 6. François Cros (Toulouse), 7. Charles Ollivon (c) (Toulon), 8. Grégory Alldritt (La Rochelle)

Replacements: 16. Camille Chat (Racing 92), 17. Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon), 18. Demba Bamba (Lyon), 19. Romain Taofifenua (Toulon), 20. Dylan Cretin (Lyon), 21. Baptiste Serin (Toulon), 22. Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Bègles), 23. Thomas Ramos (Toulouse)

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Source: 6 Nations