PARIS -- Thierry LaCroix scored 11 points to help France beat Wales 21-9 in the Five Nations Rugby Union Tournament, which began Saturday.


England, which defeated Ireland 20-8, now hosts France at Twickenham on Feb. 4, in a game which could virtually decide the overall winner of the tournament this year.


In Paris, Wales opened the scoring in the second minute when Neil Jenkins kicked a 25-meter penalty.


France came back in the 21st minute when Abdelatif Benazzi ran clear to help bring the ball to within five meters of the Welsh goal.


Then France quickly switched play and Philippe Sella was able to get the ball to Emile Ntamack who just put it into the corner to make it 5-3.


Three minutes later Jenkins gave Wales its last lead of the match when he converted a penalty from 15 meters away.


French captain Philippe Saint-Andre scored the go-ahead try in the 29th minute that was followed by a conversion by Lacroix, putting France ahead 12-6.


In the last minute of the first half Lacroix increased the margin with a 15-meter penalty kick.


Lacroix kept up his scoring pace by adding another penalty kick in the 54th minute before Jenkins converted for three points to make the score 18-9.


Jenkins now had a Wales record of 329 points for his team.


Lacroix finished his and the game's scoring with a penalty kick in the 63rd minute as the rain limited the offense in the final 20 minutes.


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Will Carling, Ben Clarke and Tony Underwood all scored tries as England overpowered Ireland 20-8 at Landsdowne Road.


Back row forward Anthony Foley scored a try for Ireland in the third minute of injury time. Carling's sixth minute try, his ninth for England, came when his forwards won good lineout possession. Andrew made good progress with the ball from Kyran Bracken's pass and slipped the ball to Carling only three meters from the Irish line.


Andrew converted as England led 7-0.


Irish fly half Paul Burke, a surprise choice instead of Eric Elwood, made it 7-3 when he landed a 30-meter penalty in the 17th minute after Clarke was penalized for foul play with the boot.


Clarke was later shown the yellow card, introduced for the first time this season, by French referee Patrick Thomas for similar foul play, stamping on Simon Geoheghan in a ruck.


England's second try came in the 23rd minute and was the result of some powerful play by the forwards. They charged up in support of Carling, who was tackled by three Irish defenders close to the line.


In the resulting maul, almost the entire England pack forced the Irish back and Clarke peeled off to drop over the line. This time Andrew, who kicked a world record-equalling 30 points in England's previous game against Canada, was off target with the conversion.


England went into half time 12-3 ahead and increased than when Andrew kicked another penalty after five minutes of the second period.


And half way through the second half, the English stretched that to 20-3 when Tony Underwood took a pass from Bracken in midfield, swapped passes with the impressive back row forward Tim Rodber and sprinted 30 yards through a startled Irish defense to cross the line for another try, his sixth for England.


Andrew again missed the conversion for a try but Foley made it 20-8 in the third minute of injury time after a fine break by Niall Woods caught out the English defense. The back row forward collected the ball from a scrum and crossed the line. Burke missed the conversion.