Ireland U21s earn draw in France

Six Nations U21 result:

France U21 20 Ireland U21 20 - Full time

Mark McCall’s tenure as Ireland U21 coach began with a hard fought draw in the Six Nations U21 championship opener at Stade Beaublanc in Limoges tonight.

Both sides scored three tries, with the Irish leading 20-15 with ten minutes remaining, only to concede a late try to Dax winger Julien Saubade, with out-half Regis Lespinas crucially missing the conversion to the left.

McCall’s charges were down 3-0 to a Lespinas penalty after the first quarter of an hour before Queen's wing Tommy Bowe, scorer of two tries against the French in last season’s 13-12 success in Cork, touching down close to the corner flag.

A second Irish try from right wing Richard Lane cancelled out France’s first try on 27 minutes through flanker and skipper Yannick Nyanga as the visitors led 10-8 at the break.

Bourgoin centre Florian Fritz combined well with his midfield partner Pierre Emmanuel Garcia to put les Bleus on 50 minutes, with Lespinas notching his first conversion.

The Irish answered back eight minutes later as Dungannon centre Glen Telford found a gap to sidle through for a third Irish try, converted by Steenson with the Queen’s out-half’s only penalty success of the night in the 63rd minute handing McCall’s men a five-point lead.

However Saubade struck at the death to spoil what could have been a deserved win, according to team manager David Haslett.

“We definitely let them back into it, and missed out on possibly two more tries which would have seen the win screwed down,” claimed the Ulster man.

"I thought our captain David Gannon from Blackrock had a stand out performance, and we’ll need plenty of them against Wales next Friday in Galway.”

Current U21 Grand Slam holders Wales enjoyed a 39-6 win over their Scottish counterparts in Bridgend.

FRANCE U21: JB Peyras; J Arias, F Fritz, PE Garcia, J Saubade; R Lespinas, K Lopez; G Bernad, M Baget, Y Nyanga (Capt), R Millo-Chlusky, R Roques, L Busolin, B Kayser, A Falieres.

Replacements: V Lacombe, L Fior, B Goze, F Faure, M Campeggia, B Thierry, R Cabannes.

IRELAND U21: A Finn; R Lane, J Hearty, G Telford, T Bowe; G Steenson, T O’Leary; J Wickham, D Fogarty, D Fitzpatrick, D Gannon (Capt), S O’Connor, B O’Connor, O Hennessy, J Heaslip.

Replacements: C Geoghegan, S Bennett, N McComb, D O’Brien, R Shaw, M Glancy, B O’Donnell.

Referee: David Changleng (Scotland)