WALES restored some badly needed pride to their battered season despite slipping to their third Six Nations defeat on Saturday.

As if liberated by Scotland's victory over Italy just before they took the field, which made them safe from the ignominy of the wooden spoon, Wales put in a really big performance against the team chasing the title.

Gone was the shambles of the week before when they were held to a draw by Italy, gone were the dreadful closing stages of Twickenham and the ineptitude of Dublin had also disappeared.

Instead we got what the packed Millennium Stadium crowd, and many more watching in the pubs and clubs and at home, craved - a wholehearted, thoroughly committed performance, full of fight, endeavour and no little skill against one of the tournament's big guns.

In fact Wales led for over half the game - a total of 49 minutes in two spells - and even if they were ultimately unsuccessful and France clinched the Six Nations title, everyone recognised this was Wales' best display of the tournament.

It was not until the 72nd minute that France took the lead for the first time, a revealing enough statistic which was evidence of the effort Wales put in as they opened with a bang and kept the momentum going.

Though France were without a few players, Wales have been decimated with as many as 14 players out of action, so it speaks volumes for the team's attitude on Saturday as they were determined to ram the stick they had received, some of it vitriolic, back down the throats of their critics.

Wales were reduced to their third-choice scrum-half, but some third choice he proved - Mike Phillips playing so well that he deservedly earned the man-of-the-match award.

With Dwayne Peel and Gareth Cooper both ruled out, Phillips stepped into the breach by proving a real handful with his size and strength, often cutting the French back row to ribbons around the fringes.

Time and again he broke the first line of defence with his thrustful running, and if anything he was too quick even for his team-mates, for his bursts often came to nothing and petered out through lack of support.

If Phillips was the player of the match, not far behind was Hal Luscombe, who enjoyed his best performance in a Wales jersey in his 15th international.

He made a fool of those, even at the Dragons, who don't rate him by outplaying the French centres, scoring Wales' only try and his first in the Six Nations, threatening almost every time he had the ball and defending superbly, an area which has been a strength all season.

His try in the 25th minute gave Wales the lead which they weren't to lose until eight minutes from the end, when he broke clean through down the left, handed on to the supporting Shane Williams on the inside, the winger wrongfooting a defender, and when he was just held by Julien Bonnaire flipped the ball back to Luscombe, who romped over for the try which Stephen Jones converted.

Jones was as reliable as ever, giving Wales a sense of focus and direction as he frequently drove the French back.

But it was the pack who provided the platform as they competed hard with their more vaunted and more experienced French counterparts, prop Adam Jones perhaps the pick of the bunch as he scrummaged well and was prominent in the loose.

Michael Owen showed he hadn't suffered after some of the attacks directed at him last week, leading well in his quiet way, while Alix Popham put in some big hits and drives, with Martyn Williams everywhere in a strong back-row performance.

Locks Ian Gough and Robert Sidoli contested the line-outs well, though encountering some wayward throwing in when Mefin Davies replaced injury victim Rhys Thomas, Gough also harshly penalised a couple of times.

And then there was supersub Gavin Henson, his problems of Dublin well and truly behind him.

Going on for the second half, he looked more like the player who lit up the championship last season, booming his kicks out of hand deep into French territory and blazing over a 50-yard penalty after 55 minutes which had shades of the kick which put paid to England last season all over it.

Yet it all wasn't quite enough against a French team which hung in there, forced to defend for lengthy periods but somehow surviving and striking decisively twice in the final eight minutes.

They had two useful place kickers at scrum-half, Dimitri Yachvili slotting two first-half penalties, and replacement Jean-Baptiste Elissalde landing a penalty and conversion after the interval.

After trailing 13-6 at half-time, Jones also kicking two penalties, the first taking him past the 500-points mark for Wales, France scored two tries in the second half.

Replacement hooker Dimitri Szarzewski powered over for the first from a driving line-out, and centre Florian Fritz collected a delicate chip over the top by Frederic Michalak to cross between the posts for the second.

Elissalde's conversion gave France the lead for the first time, and he rubbed salt into the wounds with a penalty two minutes from the end to clinch the title for his side and condemn Wales to an undeserved defeat.

But with so many players to return for Wales the picture is not as black as has been painted - it never was.

Wales: L Byrne (G Henson 40), D James, H Luscombe, M Watkins, S Williams, S Jones, M Phillips, Duncan Jones (G Jenkins 51), R Thomas (M Davies 42), A Jones, I Gough, R Sidoli (J Thomas 74), M Owen (captain), A Popham (Dafydd Jones 68), M Williams. Scorers - try: H Luscombe; conversion: S Jones; penalties: S Jones (2); G Henson.

France: T Castaignede (C Heymans 40), A Rougerie, F Fritz, D Traille, C Dominici, F Michalak, D Yachvili (J-B Elissalde 43), S Marconnet, R Ibanez (D Szarzewski 43), P de Villiers, F Pelous (captain), J Thion, Y Nyanga, T Lievremont (D Szarzewski 26-36 and O Magne 55), J Bonnaire (L Nallet 55).

Scorers - tries: D Szarzewski, F Fritz; conversion J-B Elissalde; penalties: D Yachvili (2), Elissalde.