Coach Steve Tandy was left clutching at straws after Wales’ 54-12 hammering by France in Cardiff on Sunday.

The visitors put on a sparkling display of open rugby at the Millennium Stadium, scoring eight tries.

“If you look at the athletes France have, if we kick a little too far, or if there’s an offload, they come alive,” Tandy told the BBC. “You have to tip your hat to France and where they are as a team.”

Tandy’s team has now shipped 50 points or more in four of the five games he has been in charge for – England only managed 48 last week – and have not won in the Six Nations for three years.

However, he saw some improvement from the debacle at Twickenham, when they also collected four yellow cards, and some reason for optimism for Wales to take into their final three games in the tournament against Scotland, Ireland and Italy.

“I thought we had moments in the game, our discipline was a lot better [than last week],” he told the BBC after the game. “I thought the set-piece was excellent … we could’ve scored a few more tries.

“For us it’s transitioning, we’re not where we want to be ultimately. We’re at this point in our journey but it’s looking at where we have improved and keep building.”

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Wing Theo Attissogbe scored two of France’s tries but it was flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert who was named Man of the Match for a display that saw him score one try and lay on three more.

“Sometimes in certain matches with France, when I come on, I’m left with a few regrets because I feel like I’m not myself,” said Jalibert who has played second fiddle in the past to both Romain Ntamack, currently injured, and Thomas Ramos.

“What I wanted tonight was to give it everything, even if it wasn’t perfect, but to enjoy myself and hold my head high at the final whistle.”

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However, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, one of France’s seven try-scorers, put the victory into some context.

“Wales are a team in difficulty, but you can see that if we’re not serious, it won’t work,” he said

“We’re very happy to have played a generally complete match today. It bodes well for what’s next.”

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While Wales face Scotland in the next round, France will host Italy in Lille next Sunday.

“When you’re pushed to the edge of the cliff, you’re capable of doing great things, but when you’re being praised it can sometimes be hard to get fired up in a combat sport,” said coach Fabien Galthie.

“There’s great maturity in this team but also lots of young guys. And we need those [mature] players to keep us on the straight and narrow and make sure we don’t get carried away.”

Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images