Six Nations Tips: France v Wales Prediction, Tips, & Best Bet

We have a France v Wales prediction for you plus a breakdown of the betting odds, team news and matchups ahead of this 2025 Six Nations opener.

How To Watch France v Wales

When is France v Wales

The game is scheduled to kick off at 8.15 pm on Friday, January 31st.

TV Channel

In Ireland, the game will be broadcast on Virgin Media One with pre-match coverage from 7.30 pm.

In the UK the game will be televised on ITV1 plus S4C, and STV.

Live Stream

You can live stream France v Wales on ITVX.

Who are the officiating team?

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)

Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy), Jordan Way (Australia)

TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

FPRO: Damon Murphy (Australia)

Where is France v Wales

France are the home team and will play this game in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France.

France v Wales Odds – 2025 Six Nations

France are currently priced as 1/66 favourites to win this game.

Wales are massive outsiders with odds of 16/1 on a Welsh victory.

The draw is seen as a 66/1 shot.

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Match Betting Enhanced

France @ 1/50

Wales @ 18/1

Draw @ 80/1

Handicap Betting

France: -28 @ Evens

Wales -+28 @ Evens

Handicap Draw: -28 @ 18/1

Team News

France Team News

Wales Team News

France v Wales Preview

France Form

France finished second in the 2024 Six Nations Championship coming 5 points behind winners Ireland, but it was a tournament of two halves. They opened it with a convincing loss at the hands of Ireland, a narrow win over Scotland and a shock draw with Italy. They then defeated Wales convincingly and won a thriller with England in their closing games to finish on a high.

Following the Six Nations, France played out a drawn series with Argentina and defeated Uruguay last summer. The Autumn Nations Series saw them perform brilliantly to close out the season with a 52-12 win over Japan, a 30-29 thriller against New Zealand and a 37-23 win over Argentina.

Head Coach Galthié since his appointment in 2019 has achieved the remarkable feat of making the unpredictable French predictable in a positive sense with a win rate of 77.78%. I'm expecting his experience to be the ace in the pack for France this Six Nations Championship.

Wales Form

The Welsh had a miserable 2024 Six Nations campaign losing 5 of their 5 games for a points difference of -51. This meant they earned the unwanted title of being the Wooden Spoon for the second time in the Six Nations era (2003 too) finishing with only 4 points and a considerable 7 back of second from bottom Italy who they were defeated by 21-24.

Wales are clearly in a transitional phase and lost their remaining 6 games of 2024, first in the summer against South Africa and Australia twice. In November they lost by 5 points against Fiji before being convincingly beaten by South Africa and Australia again meaning they’ve now lost 12 successive matches.

If there’s anyone who can turn Wales's fortunes it's Warren Gatland who is currently in his second spell in charge of the country after spells from 2007-2019. He’s been back in the job since 2022. 17 players in this squad have been capped 10 times or less at Senior Level for Wales.

France v Wales Rugby Head-To-Head

All-Time Head-To-Head Record

France and Wales have played each other in rugby union since 1908. A total of 104 matches have been played, with Wales winning 51 times, France 50 times and the remaining three finishing as draws.

Head-To-Head Results Last Five Matches

2024: France won 24-45 in Millenium Stadium

2023: France won 41-28 in Stade de France, Saint-Denis

2022: France won 9-13 in Millenium Stadium

2021: France won 32-30 in Millenium Stadium

2020: France won 38-21  in Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Trends

France have won six of their last six matches against Wales.

Key Players

Antoine Dupont – France

Antoine Dupont (28), France and Toulouse Captain and Scrum-Half, is the best in his position in the World and consistently shows himself to be excellent defensively with freakish strength for his size.

Expect everything to go through him at the weekend and he will be the driving force behind everything good about France.

Josh Adams – Wales

The 29-year-old Welsh wing wizard Josh Adams will arguably be their biggest try threat on Friday Night having accumulated 105 points from his 59 caps at Senior Level for Wales since debuting in 2018.

He returns to the Wales side following 12 months away from International Rugby which will be a huge boost to their attacking prospects in particular.

France v Wales Prediction & Best Bet

Prediction: France 35-12 Wales

Despite France’s phenomenal record under Fabien Galthié since his appointment in 2019, they only won one Six Nations Championship since then with that coming with their Grand Slam success in 2022. They’re arguably due another title given their consistent nature in International Rugby.

Wales have not had the best of times recently losing their last 12 games and their last Six Nations title coming in 2021. It’s a transitional phase in their Rugby history but the return of Josh Adams to the side should at least improve their attacking threat.

Especially given home advantage I expect France to put down a marker in this game ahead of what will be a Six Nations Championship they’ll be expected to go close to winning again.

Best Bet: France to score 15+ points in each half @ 4/6

*Prices are subject to fluctuation.

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