Winless Wales remain at foot of Women’s Six Nations table after loss to France

Winless Wales remain at the foot of the Women’s Guinness Six Nations table after France set up a Grand Slam decider with England with a 40-0 victory at Cardiff Arms Park.

The French ran in six tries to ensure a tense conclusion to the championship in Bordeaux next weekend.

France, who had debutant Anne-Cecile Ciofani sent to the sin bin for a first-minute tackle on Hannah Jones, made light of their numerical disadvantage as they raced into a 14-0 lead inside 18 minutes with prop Annaelle Deshayes and winger Joanna Grisez crossing and fly-half Lina Queyroi adding the conversions.

Mistakes

Flanker Romane Menager’s try made it 19-0 at the break with Wales enjoying more possession and territory, but being made to pay for mistakes.

Tries from centre Gabrielle Vernier and skipper Manae Feleu and two more Queyroi conversions stretched the lead to 33-0 before prop Assia Khalfaoui was shown a yellow card for a head-on-head challenge on fly-half Lleucu George.

But Grisez claimed her second of the game after she pounced on Cath Richards’ loose pass inside her own 22 with Morgane Bourgeois converting to complete a good afternoon’s work for the visitors.