Visitors take 22-12 victory at Musgrave Park

Daire Walsh

Under-20 Six Nations: Ireland 12 France 22

There was disappointment for the Ireland Under-20s at Virgin Media Park in Cork as they fell to a 10-point defeat against France in the fourth round of the Under-20 Six Nations.

Thanks in no small part to clinical finishes in either half from Lyam Akrab, France emerged from the Leeside venue with a bonus point triumph. Having previously established an unbeaten run of 15 games across the three previous editions of the tournament, Ireland have now suffered three losses from four games in their 2025 campaign.

Owing to the concession of three penalties inside the opening eight minutes, Ireland found themselves under intense pressure from the early stages. The persistence of Les Bleus looked set to pay off when Tom Leveque gathered a cross field kick on the right-flank, but superb defensive work by outhalf Tom Wood forced the Bayonne winger into dropping the ball just as he appeared destined to dot down.

Despite failing to finish off this particular move, the visitors continued to attack in waves and finally opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Fresh from registering the quickest try in Top 14 history against Perpignan last weekend, Bordeaux Begles fullback Jon Echegaray rounded off an outstanding team move with a finish to the left of the posts.

While the resulting conversion from Luka Keletaona drifted past the target, France were in for a second try just shy of the first-quarter mark – Echegaray breaking powerfully into the Irish 22 before passing out wide for Leveque to sprint over in the right-corner.

Echegaray was proving to be the standout performer of the opening period and he subsequently released Noa Traversier for a seemingly routine run over the line on 28 minutes. Yet a premature celebration from the flanker opened the door for Will Wootton to produce a try-saving tackle and Ireland received a much-needed boost when Traversier was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle on Wood moments later.

Remarkably, France would finish the half with just 12 players after Bartholome Sanson and Echegaray both joined Traversier in the sin bin. The temporary dismissal of Echegaray also delivered a penalty try for Ireland, but an earlier five-pointer from French hooker Akrab meant Neil Doak’s men still trailed 15-7 at the interval.

The cards left the hosts with a major numerical advantage on the resumption, albeit France had welcomed Traversier and Sanson back into the fray by the seventh minute of the second half. The half-time scoreline remained intact by the time the visitors were eventually restored to their full compliment, and Cédric Laborde’s charges almost immediately wrapped up a bonus point when Akrab applied the finishing touches to another lineout maul in the 52nd minute.

In contrast, Ireland largely struggled to create sustained attacking momentum during the opening hour, but coinciding with the introduction of a plethora of replacements they started to gain more of a stranglehold towards the French posts inside the final-quarter.

Hooker Henry Walker was one of the replacements and was perilously close to touching down at the back of a lineout maul on 66 minutes.

While France stood firm during that attacking spell, Ireland finally took their reward when Leinster winger Ciaran Mangan completed an extended move with a stoppage-time try.

SCORING SEQUENCE – 15 mins: Echegaray try 0-5; 18: Leveque try 0-10; 33: Akrab try 0-15; 40: penalty try 7-15 Half-time 7-15; 52: Akrab try, Keletaona con 7-22; 81: Mangan try 12-22.

IRELAND: D Green; C Molony, G O’Leary Kareen, E Smyth, C Mangan; T Wood, W Wooton; B Bohan, M Yarr, A Mullan; M Ronan, B Corrigan; M Foy, B Power, E McCarthy (capt).

Replacements: H Walker for Yarr, T McAllister for Mullan (both 51); D Walsh for Power, C Kennelly for Ronan (both 57); P Moore for Bohan, C Logan for Wootton (both 62); S Wisniewski for Wood (67); C Fahy for Smyth (69).

FRANCE: J Echegaray; T Leveque, S Daunivucu, F Brau Boirie, N Donguy; L Keletaona, B Tilloles; J Christophe, L Akrab, M Megherbi; B Sanson, C Mezou (capt); A Deliance, N Traversier, B Britz.

Replacements: EJ Jabea Njocke for Megherbi, J Nguimbous for Britz (both 52 mins); S Tolofua for Sanson (57); S Daroque for Tilloles, J Cotarmanac’h for Keletaona (both 60); JY Liufau for Christophe (65); Q Algay for Akrab (66); O Cowie for Donguy (71).

Yellow card: Traversier (31 mins), Sanson (37), Echegaray (38).

Referee: G Colby (South Africa).