The visitors scored tries in the first 15 minutes through Alix Popham and Tom Shanklin to go 14-3 ahead, but Les Bleus fought back and claimed their third successive victory in the tournament.

Christophe Dominici and Lionel Nallet went over before the interval and David Skrela had a near-flawless display with the boot, the fly-half kicking 19 points.

Ibanez said: What's important is that the group had the resources to turn the situation around.

We were calm, precise and that's what we have been working at in training.

They exploited our mistakes at the start of the game and they have dangerous players.

We were aggressive and we had enough to turn it around.

Two years ago, the Welsh recovered from going behind early on to win 24-18, on their way to the Grand Slam.

Head coach Bernard Laporte is delighted to have put the record straight.

Two years ago we were crying, he said. In that game, we were winning and ended up losing.

We have had some ideas about how to play against them for over a week.

They could have won this - they created opportunities and scored three tries.

It was a difficult first quarter of an hour but we kept our heads.

I am very happy because it is a third victory and it puts us in a good position.

Despite the defeat, Wales head coach Gareth Jenkins was content his side had shown a marked improvement on the 21-9 defeat by Scotland a fortnight ago.

Jenkins said: We were competitive in what is a very difficult place to play, against the strongest team in the championship.

If we could have had more than 40 per cent of possession we could have got something out of the game.

We have to feel we have made a big improvement. We are comfortable with the style we want to play. I think we will be very competitive when we get to Italy.

But after surging into the lead, Wales conceded 26 unanswered points.

Captain Stephen Jones said: We had a great start. We had a good bit of possession and we managed to implement our game plan and it paid off for us.

But they starved us of possession at the end of the first half and they put us under a lot of pressure defensively.

Jenkins rued his sides lack of discipline during their long periods in defence, which allowed Skrela to boot five penalties.

He said: We defended for too long and we are too generous with our discipline.

We are giving away penalties which is putting us under more pressure. But I thought the rest of our game was robust.

France were good today. They chased well, they have good organisation and they take their points effectively.

But we have come here and been competitive and we have given them a game.