France Under-20s 34 Ireland Under-20s 24
Ireland’s second half comeback came up short but there was much to admire in the way Noel McNamara’s team clawed their way back from a 22-3 interval deficit to be trailing by just three points, 27-24, before French replacement Demba’s late converted try. The visitors did have the chance to nick a bonus point but Harry Byrne’s late penalty drifted narrowly wide.
Superbly led by captain Tommy O’Brien, Ireland will rue some brittle defence and a heavy penalty count against them that undermined their ambition, but there was enough in aspects of the performance to suggest that this young team can make significant progress in the tournament.
Ireland’s defence alignment, even allowing for the obvious disconnect associated with a scratch side, resembled the teeth of a saw, jagged and with more doglegs than Crufts. It was ruthlessly circumvented on three occasions in the opening 40-minutes as the visitors got also got a little narrow and the communication that comes with familiarity was absent.
France got their scores a little too easily although there was so much to admire in the running skills of outhalf Romain Ntamack, whose kicking from the tee, re-starts, grubbers and punting was also highly accomplished, chipping in with 17 points in the first half; his father and former French senior international, Emile, watched from the stands would have approved.
Arthur Colville provided a quicksilver service to his halfback partner while the French pack dominated the collisions and also mauled powerfully. An example of their confidence was turning down a penalty under the Irish posts to kick to the corner, justified when flanker Cameron Woki crashed over from a cleverly worked front peel at the lineout.
There were some excellent individual efforts - Johnny Stewart kicked well - notably captain, Tommy O’Brien and his centre partner Dave McCarthy, number eight Jack O’Sullivan, flanker Matthew Dalton and hooker Ronan Kelleher but Ireland’s passing was shoddy, hitting inside shoulders, some of the offloads were poorly conceived while indiscipline - they conceded six penalties - gave France the field position they craved.
Brennan
The only setback initially for the home side was losing tighthead prop Daniel Brennan to an arm injury, a couple of minutes after he sustained the damage and then conceded a penalty at a scrum which Irish outhalf Harry Byrne kicked from 23-metres. The son of former Irish international Trevor returned for the second half.
Ireland survived 10 minutes of pressure after the restart and then scored a cleverly worked try, Jack Aungier made a break in midfield, Byrne saw the defence was up and his perfectly weighted grubber ended up as a penalty try after fullback Michael Slyvester was tackled without the ball by Iban Etcheverry, who received a yellow card.
While the French winger was off, Ireland grabbed a second try, a really smartly taken effort from Stewart who worked the shortside and tiptoed down the tpouchline to cross in the corner. France may have rued introducing their raft of replacements. Byrne’s touchline conversion was a thing of beauty and at 22-17 the visitors were very much back in the contest.
Ireland’s defensive frailties came back to haunt them, a catalogue of errors in the build-up to a fortuitous try for replacement Jules Gimbert giving the home side their fourth try and a bonus point. This Irish side demonstrated the character and also the ability within the team, O’Brien and James McCarthy exchanging passes for the winger to race away and touch down. Byrne again kicked a brilliant conversion.
Scoring sequence - 2 mins: Ntamack penalty, 3-0; 12: Ntamack try, Ntamack conversion, 10-0; 22: Byrne penalty, 10-3; 26: Diallo try, 15-3; 28: Ntamack try, Ntamack conversion, 22-3. Half-time: 22-3. 52: Penalty try, 22-10; 59: Stewart try, Byrne conversion, 22-17; 63: Gimbert try, 27-17; 72: J McCarthy try, Byrne conversion, 27-24; 78: Bamba try, Carbonel conversion, 34-24.
France U-20: C Laporte; I Etcheverry, P-L Barassi, A Vincent, M Marty; R Ntamack, A Coville (capt); H Kolingar, M Lamothe, D Brennan; K Geraci, T Lavault; C Woki, I Diallo, M Lemardelet. Replacements: D Bamba for Brennan 28-40 and 54 mins; B Heguy for Woki half-time; U Boniface for Kolingar 54 mins; L Carbonel for Ntamack 57 mins; J Gimbert for Colville 58 mins; Peyresblanques for Lamothe 61 mins; A Roussel for Diallo.
Yellow card: I Etcheverry 52 mins.
Ireland U-20: M Silvester (Dublin University); P Sullivan (Lansdowne), D McCarthy (Garryowen), T O'Brien (UCD, capt), J McCarthy (UL Bohemian); H Byrne (UCD), J Stewart (QUB); J Duggan (Naas), R Kelleher (UCD), J Aungier (St. Mary's College); C Daly (Clontarf), J Dunne (Dublin University); M Dalton (Malone), A Hall (Ballynahinch), J O'Sullivan (UCC). Replacements: S Masterson (Corinthians) for Hall half-time; T O'Toole (Banbridge) for Aungier 54 mins; Angus Kernohan (Ballymena) for Sullivan 54-65 mins; H O'Sullivan (Clontarf) for Stewart 64 mins; R Coffey (Shannon) for Daly 68 mins; D Barron (Garryowen) for Kelleher 70 mins; J French (UCC) for Duggan 73 mins.
Referee: Christope Ridley (England)
