Dan Biggar has been hailed as the real Man of the Match from the Wales-France clash by World Cup-winning former England captain Martin Johnson.
Skipper Biggar led by example in an outstanding individual display, with his tactical kicking shining through during a tense encounter at the Principality Stadium where he scored all his side's points.
His wonderfully measured 50:22 kick just before the break was a real highlight, with the fly-half reacting by urging the home fans on.
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Then, just past the hour mark, he put in a precise cross-kick to Taulupe Faletau which so nearly created a try, with Jonathan Davies just unable to hold on to Faletau’s instant inside pass.
In the end, despite all their efforts, Wales couldn’t crack the Shaun Edwards-inspired French defence, as they went down to a 13-9 defeat.
It was visiting hooker Julian Marchand who was named as the official Man of the Match by co-commentator Jonathan 'Jiffy' Davies.
But speaking on the BBC, Johnson felt Biggar was the player who really deserved the accolade.
“He was the Man of the Match for me,” said the former Lions skipper.
“Wales lost the game, but the way he played kept them in the game and it made it the match it was.
“He played like he’s got 100 caps and he should do because he’s got 100 caps!
“He was very impressive.”
Dragons chairman David Buttress concurred, tweeting: “Man of the Match Dan Biggar by a country mile.”
Former Wales international James Hook said: "He is thriving on the captaincy. It was obviously a tactic of Wales to come with a kicking game and Dan Biggar gets criticised so much for the things he can't do, I think we have to start appreciating the things he can do."
Sam Warburton, who was alongside Johnson on BBC punditry duty, hailed the way the Wales fly-half carved out his team’s best chance of a try.
“He did the double pump, he goes to pass, but he knows with Wales’ system they have got Taulupe Faletau with his hand up in the wide channel,” said the two-times Lions leader.
“Biggar just dinks that kick across and that’s going to take an almighty tackle from Dupont with Jonathan Davies being incredibly strong upper body.
“That was the one key moment, the one chance France did give Wales and they so nearly executed it.
“Had Jonathan Daves got that it would have spun the game right on its head.”
Giving his own take on the match, Biggar told the BBC: “We are very disappointed,
“I thought we were the better team for large periods of the game.
“One or two big moments is what big Test matches hinge on and we didn’t quite nail those moments and we paid the price.
“But I am so proud of the lads for the way they stuck to it against probably the form team in world rugby at the minute. We are really, really pleased with the effort.
“That’s a bit more like us in terms of the attitude.”
He concluded: “When you play against good teams in tight Test matches one or two moments decide and we didn’t quite come on the right side of them.”
Biggar is set to win his 100th Wales cap against Italy next weekend, along with his three Lions Test outings.
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