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Published 10:39 20 Oct 2019 BST
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11 minutes in and Wales responded brilliantly. Aaron Wainwright collected a loose ball before speeding past the French defence to score. Dan Biggar added the conversion.
18 minutes in and Wales were awarded a penalty; Biggar made no mistake to cut the deficit down to just two points as the score read 10-12 to France.
30 minutes in and France restored a comfortable lead as Damian Penaud lofted a gem of a pass for Virimi Vakatawa who crossed over to score. Ntamack converted for a score of 10-19.
Halftime ensued after an unconvincing display from Gatland's men whose inaccuracies had cost them. Halftime stats showed France bossing the possession with 60% and having 334m made compared to Wales's 134m.
https://twitter.com/OptaJonny/status/1185829874558214144
The second half kicked off.
48 minutes in and the French found themselves playing with 14 men – Vahaamahina was sent off for a reckless elbow challenge to Wainwright's head, leaving France to defend their nine point lead with a man disadvantage.
53 minutes in and Wales had another penalty to crunch the gap; Biggar comfortably added the three points for a score of 13-19 to France.
The game entered the final 10 minutes and Wales had it all to do to find a way back into the game and into the semis. And then, in a moment of pure elation for the Welsh, Ross Moriarty scrambled over the line to grab five crucial points. Biggar added the two points for a narrow lead of 20-19.
And so it finished at Oita! The Welsh scraped past France in the dying moments of the game to secure a place in the semifinals. As for the French, despite their brilliant start, they were largely anonymous in the second half and the red card for Vahaamahina effectively crippled their chances of progressing.
https://twitter.com/OptaJonny/status/1185846985024299008
Eight years ago, during the 2011 WC semifinals, Wales lost to France by a single point, with 14 men and ended up missing out on the final. Today, in 2019, Gatland's men claimed victory over their opponents in the same way by a solitary point against 14 men France. Rugby's a funny game, eh?
Wales are through to just their third semifinal and they did brilliantly to fight back and get the desired result in the end. But in all honesty, either of South Africa or Japan will fancy themselves against this Welsh team to get to the final.
https://twitter.com/aaronramsey/status/1185845919998267392
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