Ireland under-20s impress in tight victory over France

Ireland under-20 27 France under-20 22

The imperfections won’t matter one jot in victory, well at least for a few days as Ireland demonstrated tremendous courage and resilience, defying a spate of injuries and a few performance wobbles to hang on for a deserved victory.

There were some exceptional individual performances, notably Caelan Doris, who appeared omnipresent, Tommy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour and a lung bursting effort from the starting front five against physically bigger men.

It was Ireland’s third straight victory in the tournament, a record they’ll take to Wales in a fortnight’s time.

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Despite a healthy advantage, 21-10 on the scoreboard at the interval, Ireland will have been slightly disappointed with aspects of their play that prevented them from being further ahead, notably some poor kicking and a failure to convert one gilt edged try-scoring chance.

The try scored by French right wing Farage Fartass five minutes before the interval will also grate but for the majority of the crowd of 4,563 they simply marvelled at the wonderful footwork and speed of scrumhalf Arthur Retiere, the son of former French forwards’ coach, Didier; he is a rare talent.

It would be wrong to castigate Ireland too much for the occasional lapse because there was plenty to admire in the manner in which they took the game to the French. The scrum proved a destructively offensive weapon while they also profited from their work out of touch and at the breakdown.

The French dominated the opening exchanges with their offloading out of the tackle and direct running and the home side suffered a couple of early injury setbacks.

A head clash between Ciaran Frawley and Calvin Nash after just two minutes as both leaned in to tackle resurrected the suggestion that the Irish captaincy is somewhat jinxed this season as Nash was forced off for a head injury assessment (HIA).

He didn’t return making it three Irish captains this season that all succumbed to knocks after Jack Kelly (shoulder) and Cillian Gallagher (shoulder) were injured against Scotland and Italy respectively. Flanker Paul Boyle became the fourth player to lead the side.

On 14 minutes Alex McHenry blocked down an attempted clearance and after Jordan Larmour made a break, taking play to within a couple of metres of the French line, hooker Tadhg McElroy forced his way over. Bill Johnston added the conversion.

France responded with a penalty from their 17-year-old outhalf Romain Ntamack,a son of former French wing, Emile. It wasa brief respite for the visitors as Tommy O’Brien – he moved from centre to wing in the reshuffle – scored a wonderful individual try.

Coming off the blindside wing at a scrum on the French 22, he took a pass from Caelan Doris, spotted the space behind the advancing line of defenders, produced a gorgeous grubber kick, which he re-gathered to dot down. Johnston tagged on the conversion.

Ireland should have had a third try after a superb break by Johnston on 28 minutes but Larmour’s pass to McElroy was adjudged forward. Ireland put on another massive shove at the scrum and as the ball squirted out, Oisin Dowling was quickest to react to touch down. Johnston kicked his third conversion.

Retiere’s sumptuous break allowed him to scamper 40 metres, leaving several Irish tacklers on their backside, and culminated in a try for Farage Fartass. Johnston kicked a penalty but Ireland’s error-rate and a failure to clear ball at rucks was costing them position and possession.

Farass crossed for a second try on 60 minutes and at 24-15 the French were right back in the game particularly in light of the level of attrition from a physical perspective. Sean Masterson received a yellow card was for playing the ball on the ground and it was followed by two scrum penalties and then a penalty try.

Ntamack converted to make it 24-22 but the home side’s chances looked grim with 10 minutes to play. However no one can fault the character in this young Irish team, they forced France into a series of errors from which Johnston added a penalty and then Larmour’s brilliant kick/chase gave them a lineout in the French 22.

They hung in there, by millimetres at times, but they deserved that bit of luck.

Scoring sequence: 14 mins: McElroy try, Johnston conversion, 7-0; 22: Ntamack penalty, 7-3; 24: O'Brien try, Johnston conversion, 14-3; 30: Dowling try, Johnston conversion, 21-3; 35: Fartass try, Ntamack conversion, 21-10. Halftime: 21-10. 46: Johnston penalty, 24-10; 61: Fartass try, 24-15; 70: penalty try, Ntamack conversion, 24-22; 73: Johnston penalty, 27-22.

Ireland: R Lyttle (QUB); J Larmour (St Mary's College), T O'Brien (UCD), C Frawley (UCD), C Nash (Young Munster, capt); B Johnston (Garryowen), J Stewart (QUB); J Conway (UL Bohemian), T McElroy (Lansdowne), C Connolly (Dublin University); J Regan (UCD), O Dowling (Lansdowne); M Rea (QUB), P Boyle (Lansdowne), C Doris (St Mary's College). Replacements: A McHenry (Cork Constitution) for Nash 2 mins; C Fitzgerald (Shannon) for Frawley 7-12 mins and McHnery 51 mins; J Lyons (Young Munster) for Lyttle 53-59 mins; R Kelleher (UCD) for McElroy 54 mins; G Coombes (Young Munster) for Rea 54 mins; S Masterson (Connacht) for Dowling 62 mins; P Cooper (Belfast Harlequins) for Connolly 66 mins.

France: R Buros (Pau); F Fartass (Stade Francais), P-L Barassi (Lyon), T Dachary (Biarritz Olympique) W Iraguha (Massy Essonne); Romain Ntamack (Toulouse), A Retiere (La Rochelle); K Tougne (Perpignan), E Fourcade (Grenoble), T Laclayat (Oyonnax); F Verhaegue (Toulouse, capt), M Capelli (Grenoble); D Cretin (Lyon), J Ruaud (Clermont Auvergne), A Roumat (Biarritz Olympique). Replacements: L Aouf (La Rochelle) for Fourcade halftime; C Woki (Massy Essonne) for Ruaud halftime; G Henri Colombe (Racing 92) for Laclayat halftime; F Dufour (Agen) for Tougne halftime; T Millet (Stade Francais) for Barassi 62 mins; A Fuertes (La Rochelle) for Ntamack 73 mins; K Geraci (Grenoble) Verhaegue 77 mins.

Referee: Tom Foley (England).

Yellow card: S Masterson (Ireland) 66 mins.