The hosts enjoyed a spell of pressure after the restart, but as they edged towards the line it was a case of deja vu. A loose pass from Sian Jones was intercepted by Grisez, who ran the length of the field.
Wales suffered a hammer blow 10 minutes from the break. They had the put-in at the scrum, but the ball came out to Teani Feleu – who saw there was no-one home on the blind-side and made the break before offloading to Menager, who ran 60 metres to score.
With Wales needing to start the second half positively, they continued to invite pressure on themselves with ill-discipline.
The French were gifted possession and territory which allowed Vernier to carve a beautiful line and go in under the posts for the bonus-point.
Cunningham made early changes, with Keira Bevan, Jasmine Joyce and last weekend’s impressive debutant Gwennan Hopkins entering the fray.
It seemed to spark a spell of decent Welsh possession, with Sisilia Tuipulotu leading the charge, and Lleucu George came close to putting Kayleigh Powell in with a cross-field kick, but it was the story of Wales’ campaign – they could not take their chances.
France had no problem in that department, strong carries from the forwards allowed the captain Manae Feleu to crash over the line for the fifth try.
The visitors once again went down to 14 players just after the hour mark, this time a high tackle from Assia Khalfaoui on George, but it mattered little as they continued to find space and played as a team full of confidence.
The afternoon was summed up when Wales looked to score in the dying minutes, only for a reckless bouncing pass from Catherine Richards to be gratefully picked up by Grisez, who dived over for her second.
With the clock in the red, France were reduced to 14 players for the third time, on this occasion for a deliberate knock-on by Jacquet.
But it mattered little as the French enjoyed a near-perfect afternoon in the Cardiff sunshine.
