France made light of the rain in the first half of their Guinness Six Nations opener with two fantastic flowing team tries to put them in charge against Wales.
Louis Picamoles and Yoann Huget both went over in a wet Stade de France and six points from the tee of Camille Lopez meant they were in total charge at the interval with a 16-0 lead.
The game was barely six minutes old when Les Bleus, in desperate need of a confidence boost after a disappointing autumn, rolled back the years with a stunning team score.
Forwards and backs linked in style and when Maxime Medard put Picamoles clear down the right, the No.8 showed poise as well as power to cut back and dive over for the opening score.
Wales nearly hit back immediately through Liam Williams, the full-back slicing through and almost scoring a dreamy solo score. But the TMO spotted a knock on in the grounding, that man Picamoles to the fore again with a super covering tackle, and the chance was lost.
The second try owed much to the impressive Arthur Iturria, the back-row forward producing a classy offload down the left to put Huget in the clear and the veteran winger did the rest to dive over in the corner.
And there was still time for Camille Lopez to drill a delicious drop goal on the stroke of half time.
