INTERNATIONALS UNDER-19 AND UNDER-18:IRELAND SIMPLY ran out of muscle and steam when overpowered by France in this under-19 international at Templeville Road yesterday. It looked like a good day at the office for coaches Colin McEntee and Ronan Carolan when the Irish got off to their customary fiery start, taking the game to the French.
There were obvious holes in the wide channels when the ball was moved there. In the second minutes fullback Darragh Leader took contact to make the line from centre Thomas Daly’s nice inside line. The latter converted from the right. It was looking even better when Daly struck a penalty in the 19th minute and his midfield partner Tom Farrell burst over right on half-time for a 15-point cushion.
Replacement hooker Raphael Carbou, on the left, and number eight Clement Ancely from a 20-metres driving maul swiftly cut the lead to three points.
Replacement outhalf Clement Otazo converted Ancely’s try in the 58th minute and arrived like a train to provide their third on the hour. The momentum was with the French and they made it pay, another replacement Gabriel Lacroix blasting around the outside for the fourth try and final.
IRELAND U19:D Leader (Galwegians); M McFarland (Clongowes Wood), T Farrell (Castleknock), T Daly (Carlow), R Scholes (Belfast Harlequins); S Crosbie (Old Belvedere), B Digby (Buccaneers); E Byrne (Clongowes Wood), B Byrne (Clongowes Wood), J Dever (Westport), U Dillane (Tralee), G Thornbury (Blackrock College), C Joyce (Malone, capt), J Van Der Flier (UCD), R Murphy (Dolphin). Replacements: C Taylor (Malone) for Dever (49 mins); D Lawlor (St Michael's) for Murphy, S McCarthy (Rockwell) for Thornbury (both 63 mins); J Creighton (Malone) for Digby (66 mins).
FRANCE U19:J Farnoux; F Cabantous, T Regard, F Vialelle, B Douillard; A Neisen, Y Domenech; C Baille, R Hollet, K Vartanov, L Bastien, V Moreaux, L Barba, S Cerqueira, C Ancely (capt). Replacements: R Carbou for Hollet, J-P Custoja for Baille, R Fourcade for Moreaux, E Quiniou for Domenech, C Otazo for Neisen, V Martin for Cabantous (all h-t); G Lacroix for Douillard (56 mins); C Pielotto for Barba (60 mins).
Referee: R Thomas (Wales).
