France made itself firm favorite to win the Six Nations with a 33-10 win over defending champion Ireland Saturday, while Wales hoisted itself into contention with a remarkable victory over Scotland. While William Servat, Yannick Jauzion and Clement Poitrenaud touched down at Stade de France in what turned out to be a straightforward win for the home side, Wales scored 17 points in the last five minutes to beat 13-man Scotland 31-24. Scotland had led 24-14 against an error-strewn Wales side until it was reduced to 14 men by a yellow card to front row Scott Lawson. Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams then touched down to deny Scotland a first away win in the tournament for four years, with Scotland replacement Phil Godman sent off for what the referee ruled was a trip on Williams. Wales joined the Irish on two points in the standings, France has ended Ireland's 15-month unbeaten streak and has sole possession of first place. England has the chance to join France on a maximum four points when it plays at Italy on Sunday. “It was a great performance,” France winger Vincent Clerc said. “We put up great defense against a great team. We are surprised but we believe in ourselves and we played the perfect match.” Ireland went into Saturday's match confident of a first win at France since 2000 but never recovered from the 10 points it conceded midway through the first half with prop Cian Healey in the sin bin for tackling a man without the ball. “We made it hard for ourselves,” Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll said. Morgan Parra kicked the resulting penalty for the first of his 15 points before converting when hooker Servat burrowed through to score a try next to the posts. Center Mathieu Bastareaud, who touched down twice last week, was involved twice in the move that led to veteran center Jauzion scoring in the 32nd-minute, and Parra made it 17-3. Ireland's only first-half points came from a penalty by Ronan O'Gara. Bastareaud then bounced off an attempted tackle by O'Driscoll and passed out of the back of his hand to Poitrenaud, who dived over in the corner for a converted try that made it 24-3 with a quarter still to play. O'Driscoll helped set up a late try for David Wallace but Parra's boot kept the score moving in France's favor. France next plays a Wales side that conceded 17 points to England while a man down last weekend, but punished Scotland in exactly the same way Saturday. Scotland had led by as much as 21-9, with flyhalf Dan Parks orchestrating the attacks that led to John Barclay and blood replacement Max Evans claiming first-half tries, but things changed once Lawson was sent to the sin bin for using his hands on the ground despite repeated warnings by the referee. “The guys still felt they could have gone for the victory but with the numbers down it was difficult,” Scotland coach Andy Robinson said.
