Wales were on the ropes after France rediscovered their lost flair in an opening blitz that saw the visitors quickly 15-3 down. But an equally inspired opening to the second period from the Welsh saw the match turned on its head.

Fly-half Jones turned in a commanding display at fly-half, scoring 14 points, including a drop goal eight minutes from time which put Wales 24-18 up and forced France to push for the converted try.

Wales' iron will refused to break and they kept out Les Bleus for the best part of 10 minutes to secure a third consecutive victory and leave them two wins away from a first Grand Slam in 27 years.

Jones feels he has improved since moving to play his club rugby for Clermont Auvergne in France and his performance against Les Bleus was hailed as world class by both his coach and team-mate Martyn Williams, whose two tries after half-time sent Wales on their way to victory.

''It's right up there in terms of the best wins of my career,'' Jones admitted.

''The way the game went. The first half was very difficult for us. They kept going forward and we couldn't get near them.

''So the manner in which we came back, showed character and then dug in in the last five minutes. For me it had everything that epitomised the team spirit.

''We kept our self-belief, we kept the belief in our gameplan, and we played better rugby than we did against England.

''It was a great game. In the second half it showed there is a lot of self-belief. We dug in and got the victory.

''I was delighted when the drop goal went over. It took the lead to six points and gave us a little bit of an edge.

''The tries came at the right time for us. we knew we had the ability to break the French defence down.

''And the defence at the end shows the character of the team. In the last five minutes everyone was working very hard for each other and it was great to be a part of that.''