Antoine Dupont on fire as France thrash Wales in Six Nations opener

The 28-year-old missed the 2024 tournament as he began his journey to Olympic gold, but Les Bleus' superstar was back in the saddle on Friday and was unsurprisingly influential during his 50 minutes on the field.

Dupont finished with three assists as the French ended the game as a contest after 40 minutes thanks to two tries each from Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, while Julien Marchand, Emilien Gailleton and Gregory Alldritt all crossed the whitewash in the second period to seal the win.

Romain Ntamack slightly took the gloss off the victory when he was correctly sent off for a shoddy hit on Ben Thomas. A ban likely awaits for Ntamack, leaving France without their first choice flyhalf for the big Six Nations games against England and Ireland.

France started slowly, with even the great Dupont not quite finding his range, but that was soon rectified as the game headed towards the 20-minute mark.

The star scrumhalf duly took centre stage and, after a spell of pressure, his inch-perfect crossfield kick was collected by Attissogbe and the young wing had the easy task of touching down.

Soon after it became a 14-point buffer as the hosts turned the Welsh defence inside out, allowing Thomas Ramos to throw the ball behind the back of an advancing Josh Adams for Bielle-Biarrey to scamper over.

France could do as they pleased and they had the bonus-point wrapped up before the break. Evan Lloyd's sin-binning certainly didn't help Wales' cause and with even more space to exploit, Dupont scythed through their rearguard to feed Attissogbe for his second score.

The 20-year-old was then joined on two tries for the game by a player just one year his senior when Bielle-Biarrey crossed the whitewash on the stroke of half-time.

Once again, Dupont played a key role, with his long pass finding the Bordeaux-Begles flyer out wide, but the hard work was done up front thanks to the pack's dominant driving maul. That drew in the defence to allow the playmaker to fire the ball out to the left where Bielle-Biarrey was lurking.

After Ramos kicked his fourth conversion, France held a dominant lead at the break and they could enjoy the second period.

The home side maintained their intensity immediately after the interval, albeit this time without the ball, as Wales began to look slightly more threatening in attack.

France withstood their efforts, though, and when Les Bleus put together their first real attack of the second half Marchand touched down from close range.

It was all going swimmingly for the hosts but Ntamack was red carded when his shoulder connected with the head of Thomas.

That reckless act did not affect France on Friday, with Alldritt completing the win with a final try, but it could have consequences for Galthie's side later on in the tournament.

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