WALES recovered from a sticky middle stanza to record a convincing victory yesterday which, if it will not have them singing in the valleys, will at least have them talking among themselves.

Their first international against France for 11 years drew a five-figure crowd to help mark the revival of the code in the Principality. The fact that Wales scored only one point less against France than the full Great Britain side earlier this month shows that they should be taken seriously.

Several individuals demonstrated that they should be given a chance to experience more of the international stage as members of the Great Britain touring party to the southern hemisphere this summer.

Kevin Ellis and Jonathan Griffiths formed a busy and creative pair of half-backs from beginning to end and they gave John Devereux a chance to display his finishing power after only four minutes.

It was not, however, the prelude to an early avalanche of points like the one that swept Papua New Guinea aside in October.

France showed bursts of their own handling ability and only a penalty and a dropped goal from Jonathan Davies, who spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin for fighting with his opposite number, Patrick Marginet, extended that lead during the next half hour, until Griffiths and Ellis linked up again to send Allan Bateman in.

Davies' penalty before half- time gave Wales a 13-point margin that was mildly flattering and three penalties from the French captain, Gilles Dumas, pulled his side back to within seven points after the break.

Wales took that as their cue to go into overdrive. Devereux went close with a set move from a scrum and the Carlisle hooker Barry Williams plunged over for a try which Davies converted.

Ellis then darted into the danger area and long passes from Griffiths and Davies left France hopelessly exposed to Phil Ford's scoring run.

Rowland Phillips barged over after Mark Jones had charged to within striking distance of the line and, with five minutes

to go, Davies exchanged passes with Anthony Sullivan to round off Wales' win.

The Great Britain coach, Malcolm Reilly, watching for tour contenders, would have gone away well pleased with Devereux, Griffiths and Ellis in the backs, although he will perhaps share the fear of the Welsh team manager, Jim Mill, that Davies has had too much rugby over the last two years

His interest in the forwards centred on the towering Jones, who had an impressive first half, running and tackling with the full force of his 18 stones.

Jones was outshone after the interval by his fellow prop, David Young, generally not highly regarded at Leeds last season but a revitalised player with Salford since his transfer in the summer. Young crowned his quest for credibility with the man of the match award.

WALES: P Ford (Leeds); J Devereux (Widnes), A Bateman (Warrington), J Davies (Widnes, capt), A Sullivan (St Helens); J Griffiths (St Helens), K Ellis (Warrington); M Jones (Hull), B Williams (Carlisle), D Young (Salford), R Ackerman (Carlisle), I Marlow (Hull), D Bishop (Hull KR). Substitutions: R Phillips (Warrington) for Bishop, 58; G Cordle (Bradford Northern) for Bateman, 73; G Pearce (Ryedale-York) for Williams, 76; A Hadley (Salford) for Sullivan, 76.

Tries: Devereux, Bateman, Williams, Ford, Phillips, Davies.
Goals: Davies (5).
Dropped goal: Davies.

FRANCE: P Limongi (Carcassone); P Chiron (Avignon), P Marginet (St Esteve), P Sokolow (Limoux), C Pons (St Gaudens); G Dumas (St Gaudens, capt), P Entat (Carcassonne); G Boyals (St Gaudens), T Valero (Lezignan), Y Viloni (Carpentras), C Grandjean (Lezignan), C Bonnafous (Albi), J Pech (Limoux). Substitutions: J Frison (Ville Franche) for Sokolow, 39; J P Mater (Villeneuve) for Marginet, 40; F Romano (Carpentras) for Bonnafous, 58; F Lope (Albe) for Dumas, 73.

Goals: Dumas (3).

Referee: C Morris (Huddersfield).

article by Dave Hadfield
March 1992