WALES battled their way to a win that clinched second place in the Six Nations.
But boss Warren Gatland claimed champions Ireland had been lucky.
He said: “With a bit of luck in a couple of the previous games we could have been playing for a lot more than second place.
“Ireland are worthy Grand Slam champions, but they would admit you need a a bit of luck along the way.
“Without Jonny Sexton’s dropped goal against France and a last minute interception against us, who knows how it might have panned out?
“There are such fine margins in almost every match and the Six Nations is in a brilliant place. It is a competition we need to big up and be very proud of.”
France will be kicking themselves after dominating possession and territory — especially in a one-sided second half under the Principality Stadium roof.
But the only score of a cracking 40 minutes was a 49th-minute penalty by Maxime Machenaud.
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Wales were grateful for a gift try for Liam Williams, the boot of Leigh Halfpenny and their bravery in the face of this revitalised French side. Warren Gatland’s team were forced to make almost twice as many tackles as their opponents.
But they defended heroically, making it six wins from their last seven meetings with Les Bleus.
The only consolation for the visitors — and perhaps for the Welsh too — was the losing bonus which meant they also finished above England.
There was a real end-of-season feel to proceedings early on.
But it was more like end of the pier stuff as France handed Wales a farcical score after just four minutes.
Fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc popped over a neat dropped goal to strike the first blow for his side but the French just stood and watched as Dan Biggar’s restart landed short of the ten-metre line.
Wales quickly snaffled the loose ball and Scott Williams’ grubber bounced over Trinh-Duc’s head, allowing Liam Williams to dive over the line. Halfpenny missed the touchline conversion but slotted two penalties to give Wales an 11-3 lead with 15 minutes gone.
France showed plenty of adventure but a series of handing errors killed their momentum — until they got it right in spectacular fashion to score one of the best tries of the Championship.
Gael Fickou started the move with a blindside dart and forwards Adrien Pelissie and Sebastian Vahaamahina both motored down the touchline before the ball was moved back infield.
Fickou was back on his feet to take the pass and his brilliant arcing run took him between the uprights.
Machenaud added the extras to trim Wales’ lead to a point until Halfpenny completed his hat-trick before the break.
Machenaud hit back after Wales were sucked in by a brilliant Mathieu Basteraud offload.
But Trinh-Duc let Wales off the hook, booting a penalty over the dead-ball line instead of into touch and missing a sitter with 12 minutes to go.
WALES: Halfpenny 7; North 5, S Williams 6, Parkes 7, L Williams 5; Biggar 6, G Davies 6; R Evans 6 (Smith 64, 5), Owens 5 (Dee 69, 5), Francis 5 (Lee 64, 5), Hill 7 (B Davies 69, 5), Jones 8, Tipuric 5 (Shingler 56, 6), Navidi 6, STAR MAN FALETAU 8.
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