The prospect of a shock victory was but a false promise when Ireland took a 12 points lead into the break in the opening match of the World Rugby U-20 Championship in Perpignan.

Ireland, ever-present in the tournament since it started in Wales in 2008, will face a baptism of fire this evening when they open their World Rugby U20 Championship campaign against France at Stade Aime Giral.

A year which began with a frustrating hamstring injury which sidelined him for four months has taken a massive upward swing for newly appointed Irish U20 captain Caelan Doris.

If you drive up from Spain the first three towns you hit in France along the A9 are three big rugby strongholds … Perpignan, Narbonne and Beziers.

France 34 Ireland 13: First-half tries from Peter Claffey and James Ryan weren’t enough to secure Ireland’s first win in five Six Nations outings, as the French were too good at Narbonne.

If you watched Ireland’s U20s take on Wales in Dublin last Friday evening then chances are that the sheer size of the Leinster loosehead prop Andrew Porter stood out every bit as much as the abandon with which Nigel Carolan’s offloading side played.

Former All Blacks rugby star Jerry Collins and his wife Alana Madill have died after their car was hit by a bus on a road outside the southern French town of Beziers.

IRELAND or Australia.

A French restaurant was celebrating its elevation to the aristocracy of the country’s cuisine with the award of its third Michelin star today.

Vandals tried to derail a French high-speed train with concrete blocks on the track, it emerged today.

MARK CAVENDISH continued to enhance his reputation as cycling’s new sprint king with a fourth stage win in the 2008 Tour de France yesterday.

Mark Cavendish continued to enhance his reputation as cycling’s new sprint king with a fourth stage win in the 2008 Tour de France.

MARK CAVENDISH lifted some of the gloom surrounding the Tour de France by becoming the first Briton to secure a hat-trick of stage victories in the Tour de France.

Mark Cavendish lifted some of the gloom surrounding the Tour de France by becoming the first Briton to secure a hat-trick of stage victories in the Tour de France.

The Saunier Duval-Scott team have voluntarily withdrawn from the Tour de France in the wake of the positive drug test returned by their star climber Riccardo Ricco.

KURT ASLE ARVESEN emerged from a group of a dozen escapees to win the 11th stage of the Tour de France from Lannemezan to Foix.

Kurt Asle Arvesen emerged from a group of a dozen escapees to win the 11th stage of the Tour de France from Lannemezan to Foix.

New Zealand coach Graham Henry has made six changes to his starting line-up for the second Test against France in Wellington on Saturday.

Pierre Berbizier will not extend his current contract as coach of Italy, according to the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR).

Munster star Ronan O’Gara believes the European champions need to slash their error-count in Saturday’s Heineken Cup showdown with Leicester at Thomond Park.

Ospreys head coach Lyn Jones believes his players are ready for the “extra dimension” of a Heineken Cup showdown with French championship leaders Stade Francais.

FEDERICO PUCCIARIELLO has been a wanderer for a decade, ever since he left Argentina to sign a professional contract with then second division Italian club Parma.

Connacht’s hopes of some play-off action ended six weeks ago, but they sent Montpellier packing with a four-try 26-13 win in a wet European Challenge Cup encounter tonight.

THIS season’s AIB League winners will be rewarded with an all expenses paid trip to France to coincide with the World Cup next season.

Coach Michael Bradley has made nine changes to the Connacht side from the loss to Narbonne for their trip to Rotherham on Friday.

Connacht prop Ronan Loughney has just experienced the extreme highs and lows of professional rugby.

New signings Brett Wilkinson and Adrian Flavin could make their debuts for Connacht next weekend when Michael Bradley's men take on Narbonne in France in a pre-season friendly.

Connacht will renew acquaintances with old rivals Narbonne when the sides clash in a pre-season friendly at Parc des Sports et de L'Amitie in the south of France on Saturday, August 12.

BATH are hoping that history can repeat itself after setting a blistering pace in the race for this season’s Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

ALTHOUGH set to lose out when Munster’s 24-man training squad for Saturday’s Celtic Cup clash with Edinburgh is cut to 22 today, Garryowen young gun Conan Doyle is very much one for the future.

AND so it came to pass. We had feared that the season could end despairingly for Irish rugby, that Leicester might prove too cute and Biarritz would be too hot to handle for Leinster and Munster respectively.

Italy captain Marco Bortolami believes that the Azzurri will have to be at their best if they are to have any hope of finishing the RBS 6 Nations with pride after their defeat to Scotland.

London Irish will be without almost a quarter of their squad for tomorrow night’s tough European Challenge Cup second round tie against Pau in France.

Gareth Llewellyn’s experience of French Championship rugby could prove useful when he lines up for Wales against Romania at the Millennium Stadium tonight.

Connacht: McHugh, Mostyn, Yapp, Downey, McPhillips, Warwick, Keane, Hogan, Jackman, Knoop, Farley, Short, Swift, Lacey, Muldoon.

Number eight John Muldoon, props Ray Hogan and Stephen Knoop, second-row Christian Short, out-half Paul Warwick and centre James Downey make up a party of six players that will make their European débuts for Connacht at Narbonne in the first round of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup on Saturday (6.30pm Irish time).

New Scotland coach Steve McCormack has named 10 uncapped players in his 20-man squad for the European Nations Cup games with Wales and Ireland.

FIVE short months after Shannon’s AIB League victory, it all starts again at Thomond Park on Sunday.

SPORTS fans in Galway are spoiled for choice this weekend.

Connacht have come back to take victory over Narbonne.

Simon Danielli is backing Bath to wipe out a five-point deficit and remain on course for a domestic and European double when they take on Beziers tomorrow.