Wayne Pivac: Plenty to play for against France with title defence all but over

Wayne Pivac insists that Wales have “plenty to play for” despite seeing their hopes of a successful Guinness Six Nations title defence effectively ended.

Wales’ 23-19 defeat against England at Twickenham left them nine points off the scorching pace set by unbeaten leaders France.

Les Bleus, on the scent of a first Grand Slam for 12 years, need victory over Wales and England to complete a clean sweep.

France are averaging 34 points and four tries per game in this season’s tournament, which underpins their tag of being firm favourites when they head to Cardiff on March 11.

“We have two home games left, and from our point of view they are very important,” Wales head coach Pivac said.

“We would like to finish strongly, especially at home. What better place than to try and pick up a result against France, who are playing so well at the moment.

“There is plenty to play for. We’ve had two fantastic matches over the last couple of Six Nations against France.

“They are a good side, and it is going to be a great game if the last two are anything to go by.”

Wales have lost just one of their last five home matches against France in the Six Nations, but it will take a Herculean effort to keep that sequence going.

France’s imposing all-court game suggests few weaknesses, especially at the critical breakdown area, where Wales were guilty of discipline lapses against England.

Pivac added: “Some of them were silly penalties, not rolling away, getting trapped on the wrong side of the tackle.

“A couple of times we got isolated after line-breaks. Those things happen.

“It is an area of the game we are working hard on, and it is something we need to get right for France because they are dangerous.”

Despite scoring three second-half tries