Women's Six Nations 2023: France beat Wales 39-14 to set up title decider against England

France withstood a spirited second half from Wales to set up a Grand Slam decider against England.

The French had cruised to a commanding 29-0 lead, cheered on by almost 19,000 home fans in Grenoble.

But as the rain came in, so Wales rallied, with Georgia Evans and Gwenllian Pyrs crossing from close range.

But in the capital of the French Alps, Wales had left themselves too high a mountain to climb.

France will now take on defending champions England at Twickenham for the title in their finale on Saturday, 29 April, a match that will be fitting of a world record crowd for a women's Test match, with more than 50,000 tickets sold.

Wales will finish their tournament in Parma on the same day, needing a single point against Italy to secure third spot and reaffirm their place as the so-called "best of the rest".

Jessy Tremouliere, one of the greats of international rugby, led the teams out into the cauldron of noise. The France fly-half was fittingly given a hero's reception in what was her final home game before retirement.

Wales stressed the importance of starting fast in the build-up, just as they did against England, but got off to the worst possible start.

The ball was knocked on from first kick-off and from the resulting scrum Tremouliere made a break down the blindside before Romane Menager was put through on a great support line.

Tremouliere was on target with a difficult conversion, and added another three points when Wales were penalised in front of posts.

France's second try is one Carys Williams-Morris will not want to see on repeat, the RAF winger showed too much of the touchline to Gaelle Hermet, the flanker winning the battle for pace.

Tremouliere added the extras as Wales looked shell-shocked.

Wales were then dealt another blow when one of their most experienced players, Sioned Harries, was shown a yellow card.

Lisa Neumann did well to chop down Cyrielle Banet just short of the line, but Harries got in the way as France tried to recycle the ball.

• As it happened: Six-try France see off Wales

Wales managed a turnover from the scrum and looked to have gone the 10 minutes without conceding until Melissande Llorens raced through a gap in midfield, and there was to be no catching the flying French wing.

Wales did their best to get a foothold, but each entry into France's 22 resulted in a turnover, with the French looking to run the ball from deep.

They wrapped up the bonus point on the stroke of half-time, Llorens through again from close range despite some dogged defending.

France continued their ruthless streak after the break as the wind and rain began to swirl in.

Charlotte Escudero finished off a spectacular move as Wales struggled to live with France's width and offload game.

But as conditions worsened, Wales coped better and deservedly got on the scoreboard after their driving line-out had given them an attacking platform.

The forwards inched their way to the line, with Evans claiming the try after the referee went upstairs to the television match official to confirm.

Elinor Snowsill added the conversion.

Wales fly-half Elinor Snowsill won her 75th cap in Grenoble

Wales continued to dampen French spirits, and the introduction of their bench made an immediate impact.

Pyrs powered over under the posts, with Snowsill once again on target from the tee to momentarily silence the crowd.

Wales pushed for a third, but France managed to turn over the ball on the try line, and Harries was again under the spotlight for a swinging arm, but after a lengthy review, it resulted in only a penalty.

France had the final say when prop Rose Bernadou crashed over after Gabrielle Vernier broke the line.

Tremouliere missed the conversion, but the it did little to spoil the party on the final whistle.

Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham said: "We gave ourselves too much to do in that first half.

"When you come somewhere like this, if you don't start well and go two scores down it's a tough place to be.

"But I'm really proud of the effort in the second half, we won that 14-12, we came back really strong but there's stuff to build on for next week.

"Italy is going to be a tough challenge and it's all on next week for that third-spot so it's going to be a tough week."

France: Boulard; Banet, Menager, Vernier, Llorens; Tremouliere, Chambon; Brosseau, Sochat, Khalfaoui, Picut, Forlani (capt), Escudero, Hermet, Menager.

Replacements: Riffonneau, Mwayembe, Bernadou, Feleu, Gros, Duces, Arbez, Filopon.

Wales: Keight; Neumann, H Jones (capt), George, Williams-Morris; Snowsill, Lewis; Constable, Phillips, Hale, Fleming, Evans, Lewis, Williams, Harries.

Replacements: K Jones, Pyrs, Tuipulotu, King, Callender, Bevan, Wilkins, Terry.

Match officials

Referee: Clara Munarini (FIR)

Assistants: Katherine Ritchie (RFU), Mary Pringle (SRU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini

• GAME CHANGERS: Behind the scenes with Wales women's rugby team

• SLAMMED: Welsh rugby's biggest names share their greatest moments