An impressive French side has beaten Ireland 24-13 in tonight’s RBS Under-20 Six Nations encounter in Auch, thus handing Eric Elwood his first defeat since he took on the Ireland U-20 coaching job last season.
RBS UNDER-20 SIX NATIONS: Friday, February 8
FRANCE U-20 24 IRELAND U-20 13, Stadium Jacques Fouroux (Att: 3,500)
Scorers: France: Tries: Thierry Lacrampe, Charles Gimenez, Wesley Fofana; Cons: Mathieu Belie 3; Pen: Mathieu Belie
Ireland: Try: Chris Cochrane; Con: Martin Dufficy; Pens: Martin Dufficy 2
The French suffered a considerable blow before kick-off when their imposingly-built centre Mathieu Bastareaud had to cry off with a calf injury. The Stade Francais clubman, so devastating against Scotland last week, was replaced by Charles Gimenez of Toulouse.
Keen to impress after failing to score a try in their 6-0 defeat of Italy seven days ago, Ireland played a high tempo game and comfortably lived with the hosts for the first 40 minutes.
Eric Elwood’s side conceded the first points of the match in the 14th-minute, slightly against the run of play. Ireland had some good phases before French scrum half Thierry Lacrampe was allowed too much space in midfield and he sniped over from 10 metres out.
His half-back partner Mathieu Belie converted for 7-0 but the home side got a taste of how tough this game would be when Ireland struck back just four minutes later.
An excellent team move, with backs and forwards combining, ended with Queen’s University flyer Chris Cochrane racing in off his left wing to score under the posts. Martin Dufficy, Ireland’s only scorer against Italy, added the extras to tie up the game.
The open and, at times, flowing rugby continued from both sides. France moved 14-7 ahead in the 24th-minute when Vincent Mehn passed to Gimenez and the outside centre had little difficulty in muscling over from five metres out.
Belie once again made it a seven-pointer and it took some solid defensive work from the visitors, with David Nolan and Patrick Mallon particularly prominent, to stop the French from scoring again before the break.
As it was, a well-struck 32nd-minute penalty from Dufficy proved to be the final scoring act of an entertaining first half, which left Ireland with a 14-10 deficit to overcome.
The French, managed by legendary former centre Philippe Sella, began the second half brightly and were camped in the Irish 22 for a long period before the visitors won a relieving penalty.
However, a disappointing clearance kick from the otherwise impressive Eoin O’Malley gave the French the territorial edge.
Stephen Douglas and Paul Ryan were to the forefront of an inspiring maul from the Irish in the 44th-minute, which gained them 15 metres.
Ireland did well all night at scrum time, but the introduction of Clermont Auvergne’s Clement Ric bolstered the French scrum and evened things up considerably.
The game looked to have changed in Ireland’s favour in the 65th-minute when French prop Nicolas Agnesi was sin-binned for his part in a short brawl and Dufficy landed the subsequent penalty kick for a 14-13 scoreline.
But the French rallied superbly and the yellow card seemed to inspire the hosts who scored 10 points without replying in the closing quarter-of-an-hour.
Ireland looked to keep their opponents on the back foot and force them into mistakes but French full-back Julien Dumora put in some excellent kicks to touch during this time.
Some ill-discipline at the breakdown cost Ireland dearly as Belie fired over an excellent penalty in the 74th-minute for 17-13.
‘Les Bleuets’ then drove home the final nail in the coffin, six minutes later, when a simple case of numbers out wide saw the fleet-footed Wesley Fofana charge over with Belie’s conversion putting his side out of sight.
TIME LINE: 14 minutes – France try: Thierry Lacrampe – 5-0; conversion: Mathieu Belie – 7-0; 18 mins – Ireland try: Chris Cochrane – 7-5; conversion: Martin Dufficy – 7-7; 24 mins – France try: Charles Gimenez – 12-7; conversion: Mathieu Belie – 14-7; 32 mins – Ireland penalty: Martin Dufficy – 14-10; Half-time – France 14 Ireland 10; 64 mins – France sin-binning – Nicolas Agnesi (fighting); 65 mins – Ireland penalty: Martin Dufficy – 14-13; 71 mins – France penalty: missed by Julien Dumora – 14-13; 74 mins – France penalty: Mathieu Belie – 17-13; 80 mins – France try: Wesley Fofana – 22-13; conversion: Mathieu Belie – 24-13; Full-time – France 24 Ireland 13
FRANCE U-20: Julien Dumora (Pau); Vincent Mehn (Colomiers), Charles Gimenez (Toulouse), Yann David (Bourgoin), Wesley Fofana (Clermont Auvergne); Mathieu Belie (Toulouse), Thierry Lacrampe (Tarbes); Nicolas Agnesi (Toulon), Clement Maynadier (Albi), Kevin Kervarec (Montpellier), Yohan Maestri (Toulon) (capt), Adam Jaulhac (Brive), Yohan Vivalda (Perpignan), Arthur Chollon (Bordeaux-Begles), Raphael Lakafia (Grenoble).
Replacements: Raphael Olive (Montpellier), Clement Ric (Clermont Auvergne), Jean-Baptiste Roidot (Biarritz), Antoine Loubiere (Perpignan), Adrien Tomas (Montpellier), Cedric Coll (Perpignan).
IRELAND U-20: Sean Scanlon (UCC/Munster); David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster), Eoin O’Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Eamonn Sheridan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Chris Cochrane (Queen’s University/Ulster); Martin Dufficy (Dublin University/Leinster), David Moore (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster); Paul Karayiannis (Queen’s University/Ulster), Stephen Douglas (Ballymena/Ulster), Ben Barclay (UCD/Leinster), David Nolan (Galwegians/Connacht), Eoin Sheriff (Lansdowne/Leinster), Kieran Essex (UL Bohemians/Munster), Paul Ryan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) (capt), Patrick Mallon (Lansdowne/Leinster).
Replacements used: James Sandford (Queen’s University/Ulster) for Nolan (half-time), Jason Harris-Wright (Greystones/Leinster) for Douglas (55 mins), Stephen Archer (UCC/Munster) for Barclay, Ian Nagle (UCC/Munster) for Sheriff, Conor Cleary (Greystones/Leinster) for Sheridan (all 75 mins). Not used: Kris Greene (St. Mary’s College RFC/Leinster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster).
Referee: Claudio Passacantando (Italy)
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