The New Zealander said he was impressed by his players after they atoned for their disappointing display against Ireland two weeks ago by taking France to the wire.

"I think pride has been restored, said Hansen. The team stood up and played the best they could and unfortunately was beaten by the better side.

We have to accept that and keep working to get better. There are areas which we know we can improve on.

But we know it's going to take time although we have shown that this team has progressed since last year.

We are still a step down from the likes of England and the big guys but we are a lot more competitive.

The Welsh public should get behind us. I believe that was a hell of a courageous effort out there today.

Hansen added: I don't think this was a backwards step for us. You can only put on the park your best players which is what we did.

We've got a young pack which is going to take time to mature and there are going to be days when they get dominated up front by better sides.

I think the French scrum was the difference today. If it had not been for that it might have been a different result and in the end we only lost 29-22 anyway.