Bowe’s two tries seal it for U-21’s

Ireland U-21 13

The Queen’s University full-back struck either side of half-time to recoup a seven-point deficit they had conceded around the first quarter.

France broke the deadlock in the 16th minute, less than 60 seconds after fly-half Benoit Baby had sent a 30m penalty opportunity wide.

He made amends with a break from 10 metres inside the Irish half, taking advantage of poor Irish tackling to offload to centre Jean Pierre Grandclaude who evaded more poor defensive work to slide home just to the left of the posts. Baby made no mistake with the conversion.

It appeared to be the shape of things to come as Les Bleus threatened to carve the home side open. Flanker Thomas Soucaze crossed the line under the posts in the 28th minute but some committed Irish tackling ensured he was held up, much to the annoyance of the French management.

The decision marked a turning-point in Irish fortunes as they began to warm to the task, enjoying considerable passages of possession but with little to show for their efforts.

Until first-half injury-time that is, when Ireland finally broke down the French defences and full-back Bowe crossed over in the corner. Michael Rainer missed the touchline conversion but Ireland were back in the match at half-time .

And they were in front nine minutes after the restart when Bowe struck again, this time thanks to some great Irish opportunism. The Queens man started the passage of play by sweeping up at full-back and punting forward. His French counterpart Mikael Etcheverra collected cleanly and returned the compliment only to see his kick swallowed by advancing centre Barry Murphy, who passed it straight to Bowe. There was still work to be done by the full-back who rode a tackle on the halfway line before sprinting for the line and diving over into the corner.

He suffered a bloody nose in the process and retired to the blood-bin as Rauney failed to convert, replaced by UCC’s Peter O’Brien. And the stand-in full-back soon earned his corn by denying the French a try six minutes later, successfully hauling down replacement Vincent Deniau as he sped into the Irish 22.

The home side were on a roll and Rainey finally got his name on the board with a 61st minute penalty to stretch the lead to 13-7. Despite the relatively small margin between the sides, French heads were dropping and none more so than fly-half Baby who disinterestedly despatched two penalties either side of the posts.

But there was life in the French after all and time enough for Irish jitters, when replacement Pierre Garcia crashed over in injury-time to send the score to 13-12.

But Yannick Laforrgue missed the touchline conversion with the last kick of the game and Ireland survived.

IRELAND: T Bowe (Queen’s University), R Lane (UCC), B Murphy (UL Bohemian), K Matthews (UL Bohemian), J Hearty (Blackrock College), M Rainey (Glasgow Hawks), F O’Loughlin (Shannon); E McGovern (Old Crescent), R Best (Belfast Harlequins), J Moran (UCD), D Gannon (UCD), N McCombe (Dundee HS), J Muldoon (Galwegians), N Ronan (Lansdowne), S Keogh (UCC) captain.

Replacements: P O’Brien (UCC) for Bowe (49-60 blood), C Potts (St Mary’s College) for Muldoon (62), D Fitzpatrick (UCD) for Moran (67), P O’Brien (UCC) for Matthews (70). FRANCE: M Etcheverria (Biarritz), N Sestaret (Pau), D Lison (Grenoble), J-P Grandclaude (Beziers), Y Donguy (Brive), B Baby (Toulouse), N Durand (Beziers); T Berhabe (Dax), B Rioux (Toulouse), G Bergos (Beziers), A Marchois (Stade Francais), R Friand (Agen), Y Nyanga (Beziers), T Soucaze (Biarritz), G Lamboley (Toulouse) captain.

Replacements: P E Garcia (Narbonne) for Grandclaude (h-t); Y Forestier (Albi) for Berhabe (47), R M Chlusky (Toulouse) for Friand (47), V Deniau (Montferrand) for Soucaze (47), C Garcia (Montauban) for Durand (68), Y Lafforgue (Beziers) for Etcheverria (73), A Vigouroux (Perpignan) for Rioux (76)

Referee: C Saunders (Wales).