France vs Wales prediction: Paris pain likely for struggling Wales
France vs Wales betting tips
France to win by 1-12 points - 7/2 BoyleSports
The 2025 Six Nations gets underway on Friday when Wales travel to Paris to take on the bookmakers’ favourite to win the title France (8:15pm, live on ITV).
France finished as runners-up to Ireland 12 months ago, with three wins, one draw and one defeat from their five matches.
They were beaten 38-17 by Ireland and drew 13-13 with Italy but beat Friday’s opponents 45-24, which was their biggest win of the campaign.
For Wales last year was one to forget as they lost all five matches and finished rock bottom of the table conceding 143 points along the way.
Head coach Warren Gatland offered his resignation after Wales picked up their first wooden spoon in 21 years but it was rejected, so he will have the chance to improve things this time around and that isn’t hard to do when you consider how low that bar is set.
France to excel in Paris opener
Things didn’t get much better for Wales in the Autumn Internationals as they were beaten by Fiji for the first time ever at home, as they fell to their 10th successive defeat.
They then went on to lose 52-20 to Australia and 45-12 to South Africa, making it a record-breaking 12 defeats in a row and we’re predicting France to extend that record this weekend.
The French side, who betting sites have at 7/4 to win the tournament, will have to begin without star winger Damian Penaud, who suffered a muscular injury in a training session on Sunday.
He has been in impressive domestic form, scoring a Champions Cup record six tries against the Sharks a fortnight ago and has 15 tries in 10 appearances this season, so he’s a huge miss that will need to be navigated properly.
Fly-half Romain Ntamack is back for France though after an injury-plagued 18 months and resumes his half-back partnership with skipper Antoine Dupont, who also missed the 2024 championships.
That’s a tough combo for Wales to overcome, while Gatland has handed front rowers Evan Lloyd and Henry Thomas a baptism of fire in their first-ever starts for Wales against a monstrous France pack.
This will be the 107th meeting between the two sides and while Wales lead the head-to-head 52-51, they have lost the last six matches.
You have to go back to the 2019 World Cup for the last time Wales got one over Fabien Galthié’s side, running out 20-19 winners, in Japan, thanks largely to the boot of the now-retired Dan Biggar.
Rugby betting sites are all backing France with them 1/66 for the win, with the odds on Wales winning as big as 25/1, you can also get 66/1 on a highly unlikely draw.
Last year's match might have been a heavy defeat for Wales but this being the first match of the tournament could help Gatland’s side as France might not be firing just yet.
France vs Wales prediction 1: France to win by 1-12 points - 7/2 BoyleSports
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