Wounded Wales wilt under French force

Wales will go to the World Cup with faint hope and minimal expectation after a pounding at the Millennium Stadium that left their players battered and their coach demanding better finishing.

This was men against boys, a brutal mismatch. France have made power a priority and, after seeing off England twice, a much-changed side was formidably efficient in Cardiff, suggesting Bernard Laporte's men are peaking just in time for the tournament in their homeland.

As for the Welsh, they took two steps back after the big stride forward against Argentina eight days earlier. Too often their handling let them down in the final third of the field, they leaked four tries and simply couldn't live with the imposing opposition forwards. The roll-call of walking wounded told the tale. Captain Gareth Thomas was carried off with exhaustion and had stitches in a head injury. Chris Horsman , Duncan Jones (both shoulder), Dwayne Peel (lower leg) and Kevin Morgan (knee) were the others to buckle.

Coach Gareth Jenkins knows that other teams such as England and South Africa - both potential World Cup opponents - pose the same physical challenge, but he was more concerned by his team's inability to convert chances. 'The difference between the teams was the ability to be clinical in the finishing process,' he said. 'They scored 34 points from half-a-dozen chances. We created a similar number of chances but lacked that edge and precision. We were competitive in every aspect of the game except the finishing.' After an early Lionel Beauxis penalty, the first try came in the 14th minute. Aurelien Rougerie and Remy Martin were held up just short, but the titanic Jerome Thion twisted out of a tackle by James Hook to touch down.

There was no let-up in the pressure as Vincent Clerc and Martin both went close, and it was only a matter of time before France capitalised on their torrent of attacking possession.

When they did, they did so with some help from Dwayne Peel. Wales had snatched turnover ball at a scrum close to their line but the Lions scrum half had a clearance kick charged down by Imanol Harinordoquy and Pierre Mignoni pounced.

Beauxis converted again to put the visitors 17-0 up, but as half-time approached Wales began to rally and managed to narrow the gap just before the break.