San Francisco Frontiers - Le Garrec shines as France eye resurgent England

Le Garrec, 21, rightly won the man-of-the-match award for his performance behind a dominant pack, linking perfectly with Thomas Ramos as the clock wound down and the French turned the screw on the home side at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.

"We suffered in our first three matches, but we got back on track. We showed our good side and I hope that we will use that to finish the tournament well next week," said the Racing 92 scrum-half.

Dupont is absent from the France team, instead plying his trade with the French sevens rugby team in a bid to play at this summer's Paris Olympics.

Maxime Lucu was seen as his natural successor, having played a replacement role at the Rugby World Cup.

But Lucu struggled in France's 38-17 defeat by Ireland and also the scrappy 20-16 victory over Scotland and 13-all draw with Italy.

Against Wales, Lucu was named on the bench, with Le Garrec taking over the starting spot.

"I am not someone who is very stressed but I was perhaps a little more tense than usual, I think that was evident in the first five minutes," acknowledged Le Garrec.

Indeed, a scuffed pass from Le Garrec allowed Wales winger Rio Dyer to scamper in for his team's first try.

On the half-hour mark of a nail-biting match that saw a Le Garrec try -- his first for France -- push the visitors into a 20-17 half-time lead, the scrum-half drew gasps of breath.

A messy ball back from a line-out saw the scrum-half scramble back and fling out an audacious one-handed, 30-metre spin pass behind his back.

"We watched the ball fly, the Welshman holding out his hand saying to himself 'is it mine, is it not mine?'... But it passed him by," France coach Fabien Galthie said.

Thankfully for France, the ball found its way to Ramos and an attack was launched.

- Lucu on the scoreboard -

Galthie praised not only Le Garrec's attacking abilities but also his pairing with Ramos, who played at fly-half rather than his preferred full-back position.

"When you play on the front foot, you have time, you have less pressure. He was constantly taking the game up. It's one of his major qualities," Galthie said of the Brittany-born half-back.

"He also put in some extras, working back in defence, scrapping down the lines. He was one of the players who really put his hand up. He answered the call."

In a well-scripted ending for France, it was Lucu who had the final word as he crashed over for the last of his team's five tries, going some way to silencing his many critics since the start of the Six Nations.

"My try, my first for France, is obviously very satisfying," said Lucu, widely pilloried in the French rugby press after some less than convincing displays.

"It's a simple joy but one that is good for the mind, especially in somewhat complicated times."

Lucu added: "There are a lot of fans and therefore a lot of criticism when things don't go well, when we can't find ourselves as a team, when we can't put things in place, when we don't score many tries.

"It's normal, you have to accept criticism, even if it hurts and is harsh. We have to go through that. I've had some not very fun weeks, but that's what makes a rugby player."

Next up for Wales will be a wooden spoon decider against Italy in Cardiff, while France host England in Lyon in the late match of 'Super Saturday' next weekend.

Adding spice to those two fixtures is the fact the Italians beat Scotland 31-29 and England edged Ireland 23-22 in two dramatic matches on Saturday.

"It's France-England, in the Six Nations tournament, it's the last match. That sets the stakes for us. And it's in France," said Galthie.

No further explanation required.

X.Roberts--SFF