Ireland U20s match-winner Sam Prendergast said the strong sense of unity within their squad was a major factor behind a thrilling 33-31 success for the defending champions over France in the Six Nations Championship at Musgrave Park on Friday evening.

With tries from Paddy McCarthy and Hugh Gavin supplementing the reliable place-kicking of Prendergast, Ireland were 23-14 in front during the early stages of the second half and very much on course for another win to back up last week’s bonus point triumph over Wales. A resolute France subsequently found themselves in the ascendancy on a couple of occasions, but Prendergast’s nerveless penalty on 78 minutes ultimately keeps the Irish in the reckoning for back-to-back Grand Slams at this grade.

The hosts had to overcome considerable adversity on their way to victory with forwards George Hadden and Diarmuid Mangan both being sent to the sin-bin in a frantic second half of action. Prendergast had also missed a long-range effort when Ireland were a single point in arrears, before the Kildare native eventually struck the deciding score of the game.

“I missed the first one obviously, probably shouldn’t have gone for it. A little bit nervous, but we knew we’d get another opportunity and luckily we did. Thankfully I was able to take it,” Prendergast remarked to RTÉ Sport after the game.

“We’ve really been building as a group. Even just off the field as a tight group. I think it showed there at the end, we just dug in. Even when we had 13 men we dug in. Some big defence sets on our own line there against the wind. It was just amazing to get the win.

“We knew after last week we weren’t where we needed to be. We started really slow. We weren’t thinking about the Championship. We were just really excited.”

For Prendergast and many others, this was their first experience of playing at Musgrave for the Ireland U20s in a competitive game. The crowd at the Leeside venue – which included Prendergast’s brother Cian, the Connacht lock who made his senior international debut last November – drove the Irish on throughout the contest and Richie Murphy’s charges ultimately revelled in the Cork atmosphere despite some pre-game jitters.

“This was sold out early in the week. We knew we were going to be playing in a sold out Musgrave. It seems since it has moved down to here that it has been a sell-out every time there’s a game here. It’s just unbelievable. Even in the warm-up, we all got a bit shook by it, but we managed to get through it. It was an unbelievable crowd,” Prendergast added.