UNDER-20 MATCH: France 20 Ireland 15IRELAND FELL to France in the second match of their Six Nations Championship at the Stade de la Chevaliere, Mazamet last night. Played in freezing conditions with snow still on the pitch, Ireland had their chances but in the end just couldn't unlock an aggressive French defence, which even won a scrum against the head in the dying seconds to deny Ireland their last chance of victory.
Irish outhalf James McKinney was first on the scoreboard and began what was to be a perfect kicking first half during which he landed four kicks from four, the final one just before the break coming with his left eye swelling closed following a knock in the previous sequence of play.
While Ireland put the first points up, France scored the only try of the match. In a typical counter-attacking move, a lose kick from defence was gathered by Toulon’s Jérémy Sinzelle, who galloped 50 metres. A simple outside pass to centre Mathieu Lamoulie showed just how dangerous the home side could be with space and that touch down put the French 8-3 ahead.
France dominated most of the first quarter but superb tackling from Ireland, with Lansdowne’s open side Dominic Ryan repeatedly delivering big hits, kept them at bay.
France then lost influential fullback Julien Fritz and from that point on Ireland pushed for the try. Poor discipline gave McKinney more kicks on 23, 32 and 39 minutes which deservedly brought Ireland from 8-3 down to 8-12 in front. The visitors were now dominating proceedings with Darren Hudson, Andrew Conway and particularly Simon Zebo prominent.
France came out in the second half and immediately made their mark. Gilles Bosch kicked his second penalty to make it 11-12, then added two more following a high tackle from Ryan in front of the posts and a powerful French maul that drove Ireland back, forcing them to pull it down on 58 minutes.
With the injured McKinney replaced by Brian Kingston, Ireland’s main kicker was gone but still Kingston landed a difficult one on the hour to make it 17-15. It was a poor third quarter and even Ireland’s lineout and scrum looked a little ragged. Ireland went close late on with fullback Conway being pulled down just short of the French line but Bosch concluded the scoring with France’s last penalty.
Scoring sequence
– 7 mins J McKinney pen 0-3; 11 G Bosch pen 3-3; 21 mins M Lamaloulie try 8-3; 23 McKinney pen 8-6; 32 McKinney pen 8-9; 39 McKinney pen 8-12. Half time. 42 mins Bosch pen 11-12; 53 mins Bosch pen 14-12; 58 Bosch pen 17-12; 62 B Kingston pen 17-15; 64 Bosch pen 20-15;
IRELAND
U-20: A Conway (Leinster); D Hudson (Leinster), B Macken (Leinster), N Spence (Ulster), S Zebo (Munster); J McKinney (Ulster), J Cooney (Leinster); B Cagney (Munster), N Annett (Ulster), J O’Connell (Leinster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), B Marshall (Leinster), R Ruddock (Leinster) (capt), D Ryan (Leinster), P Butler (Munster). Replacements: D Doyle, S Maguire (both Leinster), B Hayes (Munster), R O’Sullivan (Leinster), M Heaney (Ulster), B Kingston (Leinster), E Griffin (Connacht).
FRANCE
U-20: Fritz; Lagain, Lamoulie, Barthélémy, Sinzelle; Bosch, Bales; Erbani, Molcard (c), Grange, Souvent, Sousa, Lamache, Ivaldi, Geledan. Replacements: Ben Arous, Giudicelli, Blondin, Gourdon, Laforgue, Hubert, Dulin.
Referee
: G Garner (Eng)
