France made their Six Nations opener look like a canter as they destroyed Wales on Friday but lost Romain Ntamack through a red card, which ruled the flyhalf out of next weekend's clash against England.
Fabien Galthie's side rolled over the visitors in a 43-0 drubbing to add to their three victories in last year's autumn series with Antoine Dupont playing chief tormentor in a scintillating first half.
"The team is different when Dupont is here. He is the best player in the world and brings energy to all the players with his talent," Gregory Alldritt said.
Dupont was back in the Six Nations after skipping last year's championship to prepare for the Olympics before winning the Rugby Sevens gold, and he returned with a bang.
The scrumhalf delivered three assists before being replaced shortly after the interval. Although Dupont had to have his calf strapped, Galthie was reassuring about his condition ahead of next weekend's clash against England in Twickenham.
Galthie praised France's discipline, with only three penalties conceded although Ntamack's red card for a shoulder-to-head tackle was a woeful low for the flyhalf.
Ntamack was back with France after missing the Six Nations last year and the World Cup through injuries.
"There is no question it's a yellow card, whether it's a red is debatable because he doesn't fully engage into the tackle," Galthie argued, despite some damning TV footage.
Whether the head coach recalls Matthieu Jalibert, who has been sulking recently following his demotion from the starting lineup, is now anyone's guess.
"With the team we have today, based on the results we've had, we will be awaited everywhere we go. We owe it only to ourselves because we've delivered good performances, now we need to confirm that," said Dupont.
"These away matches are often defining. In the tournaments that have gone well for us, there has always been a triggering match, often away, so we’ll make sure to prepare well."
Wales captain Jac Morgan felt his side were not disciplined enough after they were held scoreless.
He told ITV: "It was a tough night, obviously we are disappointed with the result. We knew how dangerous France can be.
"Discipline probably let us down quite a bit in that game, and against a team like France, they capitalise on your ill discipline and your mistakes, and that's what they did today.
"Sometimes we weren’t quite accurate enough or clinical enough with the ball in hand, and we didn’t quite take our opportunities, and if you do a mistake then France will punish you."
Warren Gatland sought to stress the positives after his team's 12th successive loss, praising the effort and their scrum and lamented that they were on the wrong side on a couple of tight refereeing calls.
"We tried to play some rugby, probably on a couple of plays overplayed a little bit," said coach Gatland.
"I thought we scrummaged well and the forwards worked really hard, in terms of trying to get front-foot ball. But there's no excuses about the result. I thought we created a couple of opportunities and we didn't finish them.
"Probably the penalty call wasn't in our favour, I thought there were a couple of tough calls. We've just got to make sure we get back on the horse and look forward to preparing for next week."
That is the huge match away to Italy, where another defeat could leave Wales in dire danger of a second successive Six Nations without a win.
Former Wales flyhalf-turned-pundit Dan Biggar told ITV: "For me, this game next week is the biggest match in Welsh rugby for the last 15-20 years. It's a huge match. I'm not saying that light-heartedly."
