Fantastic France demolish Ireland

By NICK POWELL

Ireland……………………… 14pts

Tries: Gunne 4, Devine 31

Conversions: Prendergast 4, 33

France………………………. 50pts

Tries: Ferté 14, 69; Julien 35, Jouvin 42, Depoortère 45, Nouchi 76, Drouet 80

Conversions: Reus 15, 36, 43, 46, 76, 80

Penalties: Reus 22

France underlined their complete supremacy at the junior level with a thumping win in the World Rugby U20 Championship Final against Ireland.

Les Bleuets were trailing 14-10 late in the first half as Fintan Gunne and John Devine crossed for Ireland, but a Mathis Ferté score and Hugo Reus’ boot had kept France in touch and they led at the break through Lino Julien.

Paddy McCarthy’s yellow card just before halftime proved to be decisive as France added 14 more points in the early stages of the second-half as Pierre Jouvin and Nicolas Depoortère went over to open up a 17-point lead.

France added three tries in the final ten minutes as Ferté got a second, skipper Lenni Nouchi scored from long range and Léo Drouet crossed at the death before Reus’ boot ensured France reached the half-century.

“All credit to the French,” said Ireland captain Gus McCarthy. “They put us in places we haven’t been before, we really struggled defensively. But I’m really proud of the boys, we stuck in there and gave it our all. We can keep our heads held high, we’ve fought hard in this tournament.

“We stuck together no matter what, and we’ll still stick together now. We would’ve liked a better performance today but unfortunately things just didn’t work out.”

The final margin of defeat was hard on U20 Six Nations champions Ireland, and they would have been confident of victory in the early stages after Gunne took a quicktap penalty before hitting the line just short, and reaching through Posolo Tuilagi‘s legs to open the scoring.

Champions: France players celebrate their stunning victory

PICTURES: World Rugby

But France responded with the typical flair that has made the team such a joy to watch, as Paul Costes offloaded brilliantly to Drouet, who then provided a similar touch of class to find Baptiste Jauneau.

The dangerous scrumhalf then raced up the touchline before feeding a beautifully timed pass to Ferté, with Reus’ conversion levelling the scores.

Reus knocked over a simple kick to put France in the lead for the first time, but Ireland were back in front again when a sharp line cut by centre Devine saw them reclaim the lead on the half-hour mark.

Had Ireland stayed in front, it would have meant they had led at the break in every single game they’d played in the competition, but France had other ideas as the giant Tuilagi carried hard to drawn in enough defenders to set up the position for Julien’s score only a few minutes later, and France were close to extending their lead further before the break.

A clever move from the forwards looked to have set up a try for Oscar Jegou, but in the melee of bodies that had resulted from the initial play Tuilagi was adjudged to have impeded Irish skipper Mc-Carthy, and the score was ruled out.

Nonetheless, from an earlier maul McCarthy’s namesake Paddy was sent to the sin bin, and while Ireland might have felt they had got away with it as Gunnes fired the ball in the touch to end the first period, the worst was yet to come.

In their first entry into the Irish 22 in the second half, Jouvin took the French lead to two scores, and they made it a three-score buffer as they turned the ball over deep in the Irish 22 after a kick through, and Depoortère backed his pace to cut through the drifting Irish defence to give them a second try in the first five minutes of the second half. It was a hammer blow to Ireland, and though they continued to fight, they ended up on the end of the heaviest defeat in an U20s final since 2010 as France ran riot in the final 10 minutes.

After Ferté produced a powerful finish in the corner to get his second, Nouchi picked from the base of a ruck and scored from 40 metres out and Drouet rounded off a flowing move to complete a stunning victory, and begin the French celebrations.

Captain Nouchi, aided by translator centre Costes, said: “It’s incredible, and it will take a lot of time to realise what’s happened.”

“It was a great game,” Costes added. “We’re proud of all in the team and thankful to all the supporters.”