NEWPORT Gwent Dragons forward Michael Owen has been hailed as a world class star by Wales coach Steve Hansen.

Owen's form was the biggest saving grace as Wales plunged to a 29-22 defeat at the hands of France at the Millennium Stadium yesterday.

By general consent he was Wales' player-of-the-match with an impressive all-round performance in the kind of ball winning, ball carrying role Hansen has devised for him.

"He's world class, I first saw that in South Africa (18 months ago) when he moved up to lock from number eight," said Hansen.

"I thought he was outstanding against France, and he reinforced the quality we think he has. And he is only just learning to be a lock."

Owen was slightly embarrassed by the accolade. "It's nice when people say things like that, but you've got to move on," he said.

"I thought we did well against France, we set out to get stuck in after we let ourselves down against Ireland, but we weren't quite clinical enough in crucial areas.

"We created opportunities and towards the end they were struggling."

Owen can't wait to get to grips with England now after their shock defeat at the hands of Ireland which brought an end to their five-year unbeaten run at Twickenham.

"I can't wait for England, it's going to be tremendous. It'll be tough, but you want to test yourself against the very best," he said.

"Ireland proved that they can be beaten which will be an incentive for us to get a win there as well.

"People have been critical of our performance at Lansdowne Road, but we had worked hard and sometimes that doesn't manifest itself in a good performance."

Biggest talking point after the match was the decision to go for a scrum in front of the French posts when Wales were getting beaten there instead of a certain three points.

Not only that, but back row forward Jonathan Thomas was taken out of the scrum and Gareth Thomas, a back all his life, put there instead.

The outcome was Wales being shoved off the ball, and France clearing downfield.

Skipper Colin Charvis defended the decision, saying they had practised with Gareth Thomas in that role and a similar move had come off in the past.

Hansen loyally stuck by his captain. "He is going to make decisions sometimes that backfire. It is the captain's job to make decisions, but unfortunately this didn't work," he said.

"It's one of those things. He's the best captain we've got and I'm not going to hang, draw and quarter him for making one decision people don't agree with."

He also defended his forward selection. "The scrum didn't perform, but it's not one person's fault, we are shy of good tight heads," he said.

"Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones are learning the game, and with the pace of the game as it is, big props of yesteryear aren't going to be able to sew up the defensive line.

"The next step is to build a pack that can dominate against the best opposition, but it will take three or four years.

"But a big plus is our fitness levels, 12 months ago we wouldn't have survived against France."