Ruddock’s men have no answer to French power

A MASSIVE French pack brought Ireland’s winning start to the Under 20 Six Nations to an abrupt end at Dubarry Park last night.

The visitors ran in for six tries as Ireland fell to only their second defeat in 14 U20 internationals at the well-attended Athlone venue.

Ireland were forced to make eight changes from the side which defeated Italy last week, due to injuries and Magners League commitments

The net result was an unequal match against the might of a French pack which was plucked from eight different clubs in France.

The excellent Paddy Jackson gave Ireland a perfect start as early pressure forced the penalty, and the Ulster man made no mistake with his kick from the left inside two minutes.

But once the French pack got on top Ireland struggled and it was all one-way traffic throughout the opening period.

France led 21-6 at the interval but while they were well worth their lead, two of their three tries should not have counted as one contained a forward pass and scrum-half Yann Lesgourgues was clearly offside in helping his right-winger Pierre Berard get over get another.

But while Ireland could grumble about these scores being awarded, they could not quibble about the margin as France dominated.

Ireland finished the half strongly, however, with Jackson giving them some hope with a superb penalty from the 10-metre line.

But any hopes of an Irish comeback were blown away inside two minutes of the restart when Marvin O’Connor broke down the left for France’s fourth try, with Jean-Marc Doussain landing the touchline conversion.

Hooker Romain Colliat got their fifth after 53 minutes as fears of a rout grew but even at 33-6, Ireland regrouped and rallied.

Captain Niall Annett bulldozed over for a try off a lineout in the left corner, with the impressive Jackson adding the points, but a succession of replacements and confusion over uncontested scrums disrupted the remainder of the game.

Ireland played out the final 15 minutes with 14 men after replacement prop Finlay Bealham was forced to go off and referee Giuseppe Vivarini of Italy ruled that he could not be replaced.

Inevitably, the French took full advantage of the mismatch and got over again through centre Jules Plisson.

Mike Ruddock will hope to be able to field a stronger side and get Ireland’s campaign back on track when they go to Scotland in two weeks.

Scorers for Ireland: N Annett try; P Jackson con, 2 pens;

Scorers for France: Y Lesgourgues, G Palis, P Berard, M O’Connor, R Colliat, J Plisson try each; M Doussain 4 cons.

IRELAND: M Sherlock (Leinster); T O’Halloran (Connacht), A Kelly (Leinster), N McDonald (Coventry), A Boyle (Leinster); P Jackson (Ulster), B McIlroy (Ulster); J Tracy (Leinster), N Annett (Ulster), C Carey (Ulster); D O’Mahony (Munster), D Qualter (Connacht); D Heffernan (Connacht), A Conneely (Connacht), J Murphy (Leinster).

Replacements: F Bealham (Ulster) for Carey, 40; I Henderson (Ulster) for O’Mahony, 54; JJ Hanrahan (Munster) for O’Halloran, 61; S Buckley (Munster) for Heffernan, 68; P Du Toit (Leinster) for McIroy, 68; J McKinney (Ulster) for Boyle, 78.

FRANCE: G Palis (SC Albis); P Berard (Montpellier), JP Barraque (Biarritz), J Plisson (Stade Francais), M O’Connor (FC Grenoble); M Doussain (Toulouse), Y Lesgourgues (Biarritz); S Taoffenua (Perpignan), R Collait (Castres), W Desmaison (Avoron Bayonnais); W Demotte (Clermont), S Vahaamahina (Brive); K Gimeno (Montpellier), J Come (Racing Metro), G Galan (Toulouse).

Replacements: C Bourgeois (Section Paloise) for Colliat, 53; , V Delmas (Colomiers) for Desmaison, 53; M Marie (Biarritz) for Vahaamahina, 55; J Buttin (Clermont) for O’Connor, 55; L Magnaval (Toulon) for Yann, 65; P Julien (Agen) for Gimeno, 65; T Visensang (Aviron Bayonnais) for Taoffenua, 68.

Referee: Stefano Traversi (Italy).