Women's Six Nations
France: (21) 42
Tries: Boulard 2, Bigot, Feleu, Champon,Penalty Cons: Bourgeois5
Wales: (12) 12
Tries: Williams, Crabb Con: Bevan
France remain on course for a Grand Slam decider against England after overcoming a dogged Welsh side in Brive.
Emilie Boulard was back in the line-up and back in the tries as she crossed twice, while Wales hit back through Kate Williams and Gwen Crabb.
Manon Bigot's score on the stroke of half-time gave the hosts a 21-12 lead, with Wales still very much in the contest.
But France's class shone through as they pulled away with efforts from Manae Feleu, Lea Champon and a penalty try.
Wales' wait for a first win under new head coach Sean Lynn goes on, as does a first victory on French soil, but they can be encouraged by an improved performance.
Six-time champions France go top of the Women's Six Nations table before England's visit to Ireland.
Despite 13 hours of disrupted travel on Friday, Wales showed little signs of fatigue and got off to a bright start in front of a passionate 13,000 crowd, but it was the hosts who took the early lead.
A driving maul off line-out ball drew in the Welsh defence which opened up acres of space for Carla Arbez to put in a cross-field kick for returning wing Boulard.
Wales responded well in the drizzle and were gifted territory when Bigot was penalised for a high tackle on Jenni Scoble.
With the tryline at their mercy, the forwards showed good patience before Williams crossed for her second try in as many games.
France's second came towards the end of the first quarter, with their forwards making easy metres into the Welsh 22 before shipping the ball out wide to Boulard, who did well to gather the ball before diving over in the corner.
Undeterred, Wales went straight back to the other end of the pitch and scored on only their second visit to the French 22, this time it was Crabb over from close range.
France looked to have extended their lead with Rose Bernadou going over, but referee Holly Wood brought play back as the powerful prop knocked on in the grounding.
Wales did their best to hold out the hosts until half-time, but Bigot crashed over from a well-worked line-out in the final play.
Still it was a hugely encouraging 40 minutes from a side which had failed to score a single point in the last meeting with Les Bleues and who had never beaten France away.
The first score after the break was always going to be pivotal and unfortunately for Wales it fell the way of the French.
After a scrappy few minutes, the forwards reasserted their dominance, with co-captain Feleu crashing over to seal the bonus point.
Despite the scoreboard moving out of sight, Wales continued to show bravery, with Carys Cox coming close after a storming run down her wing.
Wales looked to be in shortly after with Courtney Keight finding a gap in the defence, but Abbie Fleming, who had barely put a foot wrong in the tournament, was shown to have caused obstruction in the prior line-out.
Wales were then dealt a blow when fly-half Kayleigh Powell left the field for a head injury assessment, which saw Sian Jones come on at scrum-half and Keira Bevan move to 10.
Fortunately she was able to return, which would come as a relief to Lynn with Lleucu George ruled out with a calf injury.
The game grew fragmented with both sides emptying their benches, but France looked to have found their flow again just after the hour mark.
A series of dominant scrums saw Wales concede a penalty try, with Maisie Davies sent to the sin-bin just a ...
