France U-20 23 Ireland U-20 13

France wrapped up the U-20's Six Nations Grand Slam with a convincing victory over Mike Ruddock's Ireland in Tarbes.

Romain Ruffenach’s first-half try helped the French to their second championship of the night following the women’s triumph, but with the sides to meet again in the Junior World Cup this June, the Irish management will be delighted with their best display of the competition.

Frankie Taggart’s late try drew Ireland level with 14 minutes remaining but a third penalty from Baptiste Serin clinched the title for Fabien Pelouse’s side before Jean-Baptiste Lespinasse’s try at the death made the scoreline look a little one-sided. .

Despite facing a physically dominant French side, Mike Ruddock’s side got off to a fine start and after flanker Yacouba Camara conceded France’s third penalty in opening five minutes, Conor McKeon landed a tricky kick from the right to give Ireland a 3-0 lead.

It took France just five minutes to level when Baptiste Serin punished an offside Ireland, but Ruddock’s men almost crossed for the game’s first try in the 16th minute when Connacht’s Rory Maloney crashed over the line only to be denied by Serin’s heroic tackle.

Camara was proving an increasingly dominant force as the opening period went on, and on the back of the Toulouse flanker’s influence, the home side took the lead when hooker Ruttenach mauled over the line, and Serin slotted the conversion for a 10-3 lead after 28 minutes.

From the restart Camara - who has already made three Heineken Cup appearances for Guy Noves’ side - denied Adam Byrne a certain try with a great tackle in the corner, but Ireland would have been satisfied to trail by just seven points at the break after an impressive opening 40 minutes from France.

Serin missed a tough kick just before the break, but he made amends seven minutes into the second-half when the superior French scrum forced a penalty on an Ireland put-in.

But Ireland refused to be shaken off and replacement Ross Byrne made it 13-6 just before the hour mark after France were caught offside, as the home side began to shake.

Taggart crashed over in the 66th minute after a great linebreak from Peter Dooley and Byrne slotted the conversion to draw the sides level. And after Byrne missed a 70th minute penalty to give Ireland the lead, Serin kicked France to the lead three minutes later before Lespinasse went over in the game's last play.

FRANCE U-20: P Justes; K Hamdaoui, X Mignot, F Bouvier, L Blanc; B Fajardo, B Serin; O Ishchenko, R Ruffenach, T Raynaud; A Iturria, J-B Singer; J Thomas, Y Camara, F Cros. Replacements: I Roux for Blanc (21-26 blood), J-B Lespinasse for Thomas (47), S Courcoul for Raynaud (51), F Lambey for Singer (57), F Ardiaca for Ruffenach (59), Y Amrouni for Ishchenko (72).
IRELAND U-20: C Kelleher (Leinster); A Wootton (Munster), D Goggin (Munster), P Robb (Leinster), A Byrne (Leinster); C McKeon (Leinster), J Cullen (Munster); P Dooley (Leinster), M Abbott (Munster), R Burke (Munster); S O'Brien (Connacht), R Molony (Leinster); P Timmins (Leinster), R Moloney (Connacht), J O'Donoghue (Munster). Replacements: F Taggart (Ulster) for Moloney (35-40 blood & 55), N McCarthy (Leinster) for Cullen (45), R Byrne (Leinster) for McKeon (45).
Referee: Lloyd Linton (SRU).