Having squeezed past Ireland 17-15, Wales faced a very different challenge as they travelled to Stade Marcel Michelin to take on a French side that comfortably saw off the threat of Italy in their opener.

However three first-half tries for Sion Bennett, Cory Allen and Rhodri Williams set Wales on the way to an emphatic 27-13 victory, having led 21-6 at half-time.

Taylor’s team made it hard on themselves after the interval as they collected two yellow cards as their hosts came out fighting.

But Wales held on to remain as the only unbeaten team in this year’s RBS 6 Nations and Taylor admitted he couldn’t have been prouder of his young troops.

"That was just a great performance,” Taylor said. “We played with 14 men for 20 minutes and we showed great character.

“They are a young bunch of kids but they have grown from last week. It is a very intimidating atmosphere but they delivered. They need to take all the plaudits that are given them.

"France changed the entire front row which made them much more physical and we had a couple of minutes where we buckled, but we came back well.

"It's massive. The boys are not used to playing in atmospheres like this. They were not daunted by it and I'm really proud with what they have achieved.

"We can't afford to get ahead of ourselves, we just need to keep going with the game plan we've got."