France resoundingly beat Wales to keep slim Six Nations title hopes alive

Damian Penaud crossed twice, Jonathan Danty, Uini Atonio and Gael Fickou scored a try each and Thomas Ramos kicked the other points, meaning Les Bleus will win the championship if Ireland lose to England without a bonus point later on Saturday.

Wales, who looked to be heading for a much bigger loss early in the second half, fought back and finished with four tries by George North, Bradley Roberts, Tomos Williams and Rio Dyer, the other points coming from the boots of Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny.

France lead the standings on 20 points, one ahead of Ireland, with Wales in fifth place.

"I thought we showed some real character. We started well, just we gave them a couple of soft tries. The game could have gone away from us significantly but the impact of the bench was excellent," said Wales coach Warren Gatland.

"There was a lot of improvement in today's performance but we're not quite there, there's a lot to do (ahead of the World Cup)."

Wales made a perfect start, holding the ball as they worked through the phases and their domination was rewarded with North's early try between the posts.

France's reaction was as brutal as it was brilliant, a week after inflicting a record mauling on England at Twickenham.

On their first attacking move, Penaud collected a long pass from Antoine Dupont and crossed in the corner after Romain Ntamack had escaped several tackles to dance his way through the middle.

In a fierce battle, France built a lead through two Ramos penalties and as the visitors suffered physically, Danty added another try to extend the advantage to 13 points after Ramos's conversion.

Danty dived over in the corner after quick movement of the ball wide out to the right.

France's third try was a show of force as Atonio