WALES' young squad won't fear France or the dreaded 'whitewash' threat when they travel to France to try avoid the Six Nations wooden spoon on Saturday.

Instead they will go there with a real belief they can complete a rare Welsh hat-trick on Gallic soil says experienced wing Gareth Thomas.

And the Bridgend ace certainly knows what is required, having been in the Welsh team to have won in France in 1999 and 2001.

Confirming the 'W' for whitewash has been banned in the Welsh camp and the 'W' for win the only one spoken about, Thomas said the Welsh team's youth will banish any fear factor.

"The younger the better when you go out there because when you are young you fear nothing," said the 65-times capped player who has been one of the outstanding Welsh players in this year's disappointing Six Nations.

"When you are young you can take the criticism and still retain your excitement and enthusiasm and there's no way of knocking you down.

"We still have great team spirit, a great bunch of players and a great, positive attitude.

"Fair enough, the victories haven't come, but I don't think you can take anything away from this team.

"The boys are so close, We are a great bunch of friends as well as team-mates so that any time anyone is knocked or dropped there is always someone to pick you back up.

"The whitewash hasn't even be spoken about. It's a negative and will be ignored by the boys. You can't go to France on any negatives.

"In the past we've gone there feeling positive and have really played well.

"We've got amongst them, we've matched them physically and scored the tries.

"With the French especially, the longer you are in the game and the longer you are within touching distance, the more you rattle them and I believe we can beat them again.

"Teams have scored tries against them and though it's true that you never really know what to expect against France, the longer you can stay with them the better the chance you have of success.

"We have had tremendous support in our home games and it has helped us immensely and with thousands going out for this game it would be nice to reward them with a victory.

"The boys, and I think rightly so, were quite proud of their performance against Ireland on Saturday. We lost, but we've looked at the video and the performance was good enough for the boys to take a lot of confidence out of it."

Of his own displays, Thomas said: "I have been pleased, but I'd love to have traded my performances in for a win. It has been really tough on everyone not having had a victory.

"I play rugby because it's a team sport and as nice as it is individually to play well, collectively is the time to perform."

He added: "I really, really believe that this team can be outstanding. We have a crop of youngsters, all more or less the same age, who are all going to mature at the same time and they're really going to be a force.

"It could be two years down the line or it could be three and I think we have to be patient.

"But I really believe they will be a great team and I hope I'm still around at the time."