A Welsh victory in Paris would be an extraordinary twist to this seasons RBS 6 Nations after the visitors lost their first two matches without scoring a try.

France, in contrast, brushed off Italy and overcame Ireland in a dramatic finish at Croke Park in the last round of matches.

'I've won out here twice and we have caused them real problems in the past. We have got to have that in our minds again,' said Williams.

'If we can get any kind of repeat of two years ago we will all be happy.

'The way France won at Croke Park shows how how tough they are physically and mentally and how difficult it will be.

'But we need to show we can play. We aren't carrying the same expectations as two years ago and that could work in our favour.

'If we can start well and get a bit of confidence we are the kind of team France don't like playing against.

'We are not scared of throwing the ball about and that is not something they are used to because the French league is very forward orientated.

'New Zealand caused them a lot of problems in the autumn playing like that and France are still hurt by those defeats.

'That has got to be in our game-plan and if we can get back to the form of two years ago we can cause them a lot of problems.'

That could be easier said than done given Wales head into the game on the back of two try-less defeats.

Williams admitted the analysis of Wales' performance in their 21-9 defeat to Scotland was difficult to watch.

'Sometimes when you watch a video after you have lost a game you can think it wasn't that bad, and that if things had gone right here and there it wouldn't have been such a bad result,' he said.

'But it genuinely was a really poor performance. We had a real bad day and it is difficult to put your finger on it because so many things went wrong.'

Wales welcome senior players Shane Williams and Tom Shanklin back into the side, both of whom should restore some sharpness to the attack.