Wales head coach Wayne Pivac hailed France’s start to the Guinness Six Nations but warned that nobody wins the Championship after two rounds.
Wales face Les Bleus at Principality Stadium in Round 3, looking to bounce back from a difficult 24-14 defeat to Ireland on Saturday.
France sit top of the table after wins against England and Italy, both at the Stade de France, and are chasing a first title in a decade.
But Pivac believes the Championship is going down to the wire as it continues to heat up nicely.
“I was impressed by their [France’s] performance against England,” he said.
“They played very well with the ball in the first half and then they defended very well in the second half.
“It was a great start for them but it’s a competition and no-one has won it, it’s not won after two rounds.
“The competition itself is going to be a very tight one this year and you can see that with the opening two weekends.”
The defeat against Ireland leaves Wales third in the table on five points, as they beat Italy 42-0 in their opening fixture.
And it was Wales errors that ended up costing them in Dublin, as the home side ran in four tries.
It was Wales’ first defeat in the Guinness Six Nations since 2018 and Pivac’s first defeat as Wales head coach.
Pivac said: “We need to make sure we keep improving against France and have a very good performance. Do that and we can get back to winning ways.
“We are two games in and we are frustrated, and disappointed because we know we’re a lot better than we performed against Ireland.
“But we have a couple of weeks now to reflect on that so that we are a lot better against France.
“We have to be a lot more accurate with the ball, build more pressure, and to do that you build phases and don’t turn the ball over after one or two phases.
“We certainly won’t panic, it’s only minor tweaks and it’s the start of a new era in a lot of ways.”
