Wales are desperate for a win after opening their RBS 6 Nations Championship campaign with successive tryless defeats by Ireland and Scotland which are hanging over Jenkins squad.

Paris has been a reasonably successful hunting ground for the Welsh in recent years and they won at the Stade de France in both 2001 and 2005.

Jenkins concedes that his side face one of their toughest games of the year and believes that the reigning RBS 6 Nations champions are looking to the tournament as preparation for a successful World Cup assault on home soil later this year.

Les Bleus head coach Bernard Laporte has continued his rotation policy and made five changes to his pack following the dramatic late win over Ireland.

But Jenkins warned that those changes did not mean the French would be under par and believes that parts of the French game are equal to that of the All Blacks.

He said: You can never underestimate the French.

France are building through the Six Nations towards their eventual World Cup challenge but they are quite formidable and it is a big challenge, he said.

Their style is very different to what we have seen. They are hugely physical in the forwards and their defence is as good as New Zealands.

We need to break the physical dominance they put on a game.

Having three away games is not ideal and France is always a tough place to go.

They have proved they are the best team in this championship in the first two rounds, but we are at a stage where we need to get back out there on the pitch and show what we have to offer as well.

Wales captain Stephen Jones is relishing the opportunity to lock horns with a couple of his old Auvergne club-mates in scrum-half Pierre Mignoni and number eight Elvis Vermeulen.

Jones spent two seasons playing in the French championship and enjoyed a storming performance in 2005 as Wales clinched the victory which propelled them to the Grand Slam.

The players love going out there. It is a great place to play. It is very intimidating, he said.

The French are a very talented side as we all know. They are very difficult to analyse but I have a good knowledge of the French players, especially as a couple of them play for Clermont.

Maybe we have done so well over there because they throw the ball around a lot and we enjoy that aspect of the game as well.

They look to counter-attack and get the tempo high early on and so do we. They are always exciting games to play in.