France vs Wales LIVE: Six Nations 2025 match stream, latest score and rugby updates today

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31-01-2025

France vs Wales LIVE
The 2025 Six Nations kicks off tonight in Paris as France host Wales at Stade de France. Les Bleus are in fine shape heading into the tournament as favourites, looking to add to their solitary title won in 2022. It couldn't be more different for Wales, who have lost their last 12 matches, including every game in 2024, and last year picked up the wooden spoon.
Head coach Warren Gatland is overseeing a transition to a young squad, but many of his players are yet to taste victory in a red shirt and many onlookers will be expecting tonight to defeat no.13. France will be raring to go, and have Antoine Dupont chomping at the bit after skipping last year in favour of Olympics preparations.
It's likely to be a busy night for experienced pair Josh Adams and Liam Williams, and Tomos Williams will need to continue his fine form if the Welsh are to get anything out of tonight's game. Kick-off in Paris is at 8.15pm, and you can follow all the build-up, action and reaction with our dedicated match blog below.
Kick-off: 8.15pm, Stade de France
How to watch for free in UK
France team news and XV
Wales team news and XV
Prediction: Easy start for favourites
21:06 , Alex Young
41min: France drive and drive before Bielle-Biarrey is spotted free on the left, takes one step inside and then drops on the line.
Bonus point on the stroke of half-time.
21:05 , Alex Young
40min: Relief for Wales as Gros drops the ball just yards from the line so we go back to the penalty.
Last chance before the break.
21:03 , Alex Young
39min: France get the scrum and there's Dupont again looking for the run of Attissogbe, but this time the bounce isn't kind and the ball spins out of play.
21:02 , Alex Young
37min: Dupont pings another beauty for Bielle-Biarrey to chase but Rogers gets back and gets hand on the ball to prevent a fourth try.
20:58 , Alex Young
35min: Little bit of good news for Wales as Lloyd's yellow will not be upgraded to a red.
20:57 , Alex Young
34min: It's starting to get messy as more magic from Dupont sees him dance through the Welsh defence before unselfishly pops it wide for Attissogbe to run over.
20:56 , Alex Young
32min: France can't get any advantage from the penalty, which is wasted so the original pen is sent into touch. We'll have a five-metre line-out.
20:54 , Alex Young
31min: Lloyd is shown a yellow for a high tackle after a TMO review, so he gets an eight-minute timeout and France get a penalty.
20:53 , Alex Young
31min: Better from Wales as Dupont's kick is blocked and then the visitors are able to clear their lines.
20:52 , Alex Young
30min: Wales have twice now gifted France possession with silly individual mistakes.
20:51 , Alex Young
29min: Wales knock on inside their own 22, so that's a France scrum.
20:48 , Alex Young
27min: Oh dear, it's game over his Watkin as he is forced off with a possible knee injury. That looks nasty.
Edwards is on for his debut.
20:46 , Alex Young
26min: Wales start to build something, until Thomas decides to do an up-and-under which none of his team-mates were expecting.
Silly decision and his team are right back where they started.
20:44 , Alex Young
24min: Ramos converts. What do Wales have now?
20:43 , Alex Young
23min: The other winger gets on the scoreboard as Bielle-Biarrey's run behind Adams is spotted by Ramos to run through.
Easy peasy.
20:41 , Alex Young
22min: Attissogbe sees a gap and looks for his second of the night, but this times there are enough red shirts in the way.
20:38 , Alex Young
19min: Ramos converts.
20:37 , Alex Young
18min: That is glorious!
Dupont waits and waits and then pings an absolute beauty for Attissogbe to run onto and dive over.
Stunner.
20:35 , Alex Young
15min: France drive at the line but again the Welsh defence stands firm. They will be happy with this opening half an hour.
20:34 , Alex Young
14min: Heart-in-mouth time for Wales as another fumble under pressure allows Boudehent to punt the ball along the ground and towards the posts... but Dupont cannot collect without knocking on.
Scrum around five metres out.
20:32 , Alex Young
12min: Yet more frustrations for Wales, who work the ball out the scrum and across the pitch without spotting a gap. Alldritt then wins a pen.
20:30 , Alex Young
10min: Thomas looks for Rogers down the left wing, but Ramos jumps with him, there's a fumble and Williams boots it into touch.
Time for another scrum, then.
20:27 , Alex Young
9min: A few failed scrums and France give away a free kick.
20:25 , Alex Young
7min: Urgh, that's a waste for Wales as they can clear their lines but fumble the ball to force a scrum.
20:24 , Alex Young
6min: A thrilling burst from Attissogbe gets bums off seats as he skips past one, holds off another but Reffell is there to stop him in his tracks.
Wales win a penalty with France not releasing.
20:22 , Alex Young
4min: Wainwright comes off badly and is replaced by Reffell in a blood sub.
20:21 , Alex Young
3min: Frantic start as France win a penalty inside the Wales 22 and Dupont goes for the line. He looks certain to get over but is halted by three in red.
20:20 , Alex Young
2min: Ramos thumps a superb kick from inside his own half and into touch for a line-out inside the Wales 22.
20:17 , Alex Young
1min: Here we go.
20:13 , Alex Young
A minute's applause in tribute to France Under-18 international Medhi Narjissi, who was swept away by the sea off the coast of Cape Town last year.
A tragic story.
20:09 , Alex Young
The Stade de France is lit up by fireworks and a great light show.
This is something else. If the Welsh were not already feeling overawed, well...
20:08 , Alex Young
...and there's back in the tunnel. The Six Nations begins in about seven minutes.
20:00 , Alex Young
Not long now, the players are heading back to the dressing rooms.
19:47 , Alex Young
A huge night awaits the Welsh.
📸 𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙯𝙤𝙣𝙚 👊#GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/Ry5un8b5Kj
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@WelshRugbyUnion) January 31, 2025
19:39 , Alex Young
"If Wales pull off a result tonight, it would be one of the greatest upsets in Six Nations history given the form of the two teams.
"France, in Paris, are really strong and Wales' 2024 was miserable. Some say that Wales tonight have a free shot - which they do - but they just keep losing and it adds and adds to the pressure.
"It would be a huge, huge upset."
19:22 , Alex Young
It wasn't long ago that Warren Gatland was regarded as one of the world's top rugby coaches. A disastrous second spell in charge of Wales is damaging his reputation, though. Under the New Zealander, Wales — a proud rugby nation — has just gone an entire calendar year without a win for the first time since 1937 and is on a record 12-match losing run.
Five of those defeats came in last year's Six Nations, where the Welsh finished last for the first time since 2003. With Italy — the perennial wooden-spoon winner — steadily improving under coach Gonzalo Quesada, Wales looks primed for another whitewash that could spell the end for Gatland.
19:14 , Alex Young
For many, France scrum-half Antoine Dupont is the world's best rugby player. In 2021, he was player of the year and has been player of the championship in the Six Nations a record-tying three times.
France missed Dupont in last year's Six Nations, when he stepped away to focus on playing sevens for France at the Paris Olympics. Naturally, he starred in France's run to the gold medal but is back in 15s and just led the French to a third straight win over the All Blacks.
18:56 , Alex Young
"I think there is more pressure on them because of the expectation from their fans. They expect them to go out there, throw the ball around, score tries and entertain everyone.
"Sometimes teams can go and overplay, particularly early on, try things and make mistakes and this gives you opportunities."
18:46 , Alex Young
"It's quite a long competition but it's also like a sprint, which is quite astonishing, so it's like a 400m race.
"For these reasons, the opening game - whoever you face - remains special, and one to be approached with caution and motivation."
18:38 , Alex Young
A little over 90 minutes until kick-off in Paris.
18:30 , Alex Young
A Wales team in the midst of a record losing run could simply not have asked for a tougher start to this Six Nations campaign than opening night away in Paris.
With the likes of Dupont and Ntamack back in the fold, France are favourites for the title with good reason and will be eager to put on a show in this curtain-raiser to send an early warning shot to Ireland, who host England in Dublin on Saturday.
Wales can be forgiven for perhaps already having one eye on next weekend's trip to Rome, which will likely go a long way to deciding if they are staring down the barrel of another winless campaign and wooden spoon.
Gatland needs to start picking up results fast but it is extremely difficult to see how they can even employ much by way of damage limitation here, much less stun fancied France, who have supreme attacking threats all over the park.
Their only hope for a somewhat respectable night is that they catch Les Bleus a little cold in round one, with Galthie's side not yet firing on all cylinders. But even that seems a very tall order.
France to win, by at least 20 points.
18:23 , Alex Young
France XV: Ramos; Attissogbe, Barassi, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey; Ntamack, Dupont (c); Gros, Mauvaka, Atonio; Roumat, Meafou; Cros, Boudehent, Alldritt
Replacements: Marchand, Baille, Colombe, Auradou, Guillard, Jegou, Le Garrec, Gailleton
Wales XV: L Williams; Rogers, Tompkins, Watkin, Adams; B Thomas, T Williams; G Thomas, Lloyd, H Thomas; Rowlands, Jenkins; Botham, Morgan (c), Wainwright
Replacements: Dee, Smith, Assiratti, F Thomas, Reffell, R Williams, Edwards, Murray
18:12 , Alex Young
As for Wales, Taulupe Faletau has been left out of the squad as he's not quite ready to play.
Josh Adams and Liam Williams do provide some experience, along with centres Nick Tompkins and Owen Watkin, and Dafydd Jenkins is fit again to start at lock.
Henry Thomas and Evan Lloyd make their first starts in the front row, with Keiron Assiratti among the replacements after reportedly struggling with a back spasm.
There are only four of the same players in the starting XV from the side that were comfortably beaten by South Africa in the autumn - Will Rowlands, James Botham, Jac Morgan and Ben Thomas are the surviving quartet.
Fly-half Sam Costelow will not be available for the Six Nations after breaking his collarbone playing for Scarlets in the Challenge Cup earlier this month, with Ben Thomas taking the No10 shirt.
Wales' fortunes are not helped at all by a raft of other absentees including captain Dewi Lake, who will miss the whole competition after bicep surgery. Back-rower Morgan steps up as skipper in his absence, with Lloyd at hooker.
Adam Beard, Mason Grady, Archie Griffin, Ryan Elias and Ben Carter are some of the other players currently unavailable for Wales due to injury, while Gatland has made some notable omissions from his tournament squad including Gareth Anscombe, Rio Dyer, Cameron Winnett, Taine Plumtree and Max Llewellyn.
18:04 , Alex Young
Antoine Dupont was back on 15-a-side France duty in the autumn, but Les Bleus have now been further boosted by the return of fly-half Romain Ntamack, who starts alongside his Toulouse team-mate as their first-choice half-back pairing is finally reunited with Ntamack having not played internationally since the summer of 2023 due to injury.
Star wing Damian Penaud is out with a toe complaint, leading to a start for Pau's 20-year-old Theo Attissogbe out wide.
Centres Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou are also sidelined at the moment, with Pierre-Louis Barassi partnering Yoram Moefana in a new midfield partnership, but wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey is fit to start despite dealing with an inner ear issue of late and Thomas Ramos shifts from fly-half back to 15. Mathieu Jalibert has not been picked for the matchday squad.
There's a first start in the French second row for Alexandre Roumat, while Paul Boudehent fills in at openside flanker with former captain Charles Ollivon missing the entire Six Nations after knee surgery.
Anthony Jelonch, Thibaud Flament, Romain Taofifenua and Reda Wardi are among France's other most notable injury absentees.
Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou are both among the replacements after aggravated rape charges against the pair were dismissed by an Argentine court in December.
France have six forwards on the bench, with the only cover for the backline provided by scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec and centre Emilien Gailleton.
17:54 , Alex Young
TV channel: In the UK, France vs Wales is being shown live and free-to-air tonight on ITV1 and Welsh-language channel S4C, with coverage beginning on both at 7:30pm GMT.
Live stream: Free coverage is also available online via ITVX and S4C Clic.
17:47 , Alex Young
Good evening and welcome to the London Standard's LIVE coverage of the Six Nations clash between France and Wales.
The hosts will be looking to make a comfortable start to what they hope is a winning tournament, with the bookies making them favourites to win the whole thing before a ball is kicked.
Wales, meanwhile, have not won a game since the 2023 World Cup. That was 13 Tests ago. Tonight is expected to be unlucky no.13.
Kick-off is at 8.15pm. Stick with us.