{"id":326359,"date":"2026-02-08T07:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/326359\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:11:07","slug":"ireland-u20s-well-beaten-by-france-in-six-nations-opener-%c2%b7-the-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/326359\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland U20s well beaten by France in Six Nations opener \u00b7 The 42"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                    <strong>U20 Six Nations Championship:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>France U20s 50<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ireland U20s 21<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IT WAS a frustrating start to the U20s Six Nations Championship for Ireland at Stade Aime Giral in Perpignan this evening as Andrew Browne\u2019s charges fell to a comprehensive defeat at the hands of defending champions France.<\/p>\n<p>Following an excellent catch off a crossfield kick on 12 minutes, French winger Melvyn Rates offloaded to Adrien Drault, who proceeded to dot down for an unconverted breakthrough try.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland immediately responded when Josh Neill (originally from South Africa, but now part of the Leinster Academy) charged down a box kick by France\u2019s Nolhann Couillaud before passing to scrum-half Christopher Barrett for a simple finish over the line.<\/p>\n<p>A successful conversion from Barrett\u2019s half-back partner Tom Wood edged Ireland in front, but the hosts subsequently flexed their muscles either side of the first-quarter mark. Ruben Pargade and Romeo Bonnard Martin both touched down beyond the whitewash in advance of Ireland\u2019s No 8 Diarmaid O\u2019Connell being sent to the sin-bin, and the French sealed a bonus point when Rates and replacement scrum-half Antoine Latrasse combined superbly for the latter to score an eye-catching try.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\">Ireland take the lead in France \u2013 a brilliant block down by Josh Neill opens the door for Christopher Barrett. <\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfaRT\u00c9 News channel<br \/>\ud83d\udda5\ufe0f<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/58N1nTXdAZ\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/58N1nTXdAZ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0LnrnAx285\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/0LnrnAx285<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RT\u00c9 Sport (@RTEsport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RTEsport\/status\/2020230564121338221?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ireland looked set to end the opening period on a high when Neill powered over at the end of a lengthy spell of attacking pressure, but there was enough time on the clock for France to grab a fifth try through loosehead prop Matheo Frisach.<\/p>\n<p>This left Ireland 31-14 adrift at the interval, but after Frisach had a second score retrospectively ruled out on the resumption, the visitors gave themselves a fighting chance when Munster prospect Barrett seized upon a loose ball in the 49th minute and raced over for his second try of the night.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\">Christopher Barrett has his second try of the night as Ireland reduce the deficit to 10 points in France.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa RT\u00c9 News channel<br \/>\ud83d\udda5\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/58N1nTXdAZ\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/58N1nTXdAZ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gPnFVDDy6W\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/gPnFVDDy6W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RT\u00c9 Sport (@RTEsport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RTEsport\/status\/2020245358299795602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>France remained a potent attacking threat, however, and re-established their stranglehold on the play when an incisive pass from Latrasse paved the way for Rates to touch down in the left corner.<\/p>\n<p>Highly-rated La Rochelle youngster Lucas Andjissermatchi also got in on the scoring act with a powerful finish off an attacking scrum, and while Ireland battled admirably after James O\u2019Leary was yellow-carded in the closing quarter, France rounded off a ruthless display with a stoppage-time try courtesy of Baptiste Veschambre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>France scorers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tries<\/strong> \u2013 Adrien Drault, Ruben Pargade, Romeo Bonnard Martin, Antoine Latrasse, Matheo Frisach, Melvyn Rates, Lucas Andjissermatchi, Baptiste Veschambre<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conversions <\/strong>\u2013 Luka Keletaona [5 from 7], Gabin Kretchmann [0 from 1]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ireland scorers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tries<\/strong> \u2013 Christopher Barrett 2, Josh Neill<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conversions<\/strong> \u2013 Tom Wood [3 from 3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>FRANCE:<\/strong> Axel Guillaud (Gabin Kretchmann \u201957); Dylan Cazemajou, Adrien Drault, Quentin Valentino, Melvyn Rates; Luka Keletaona (Joachim Senga Kouo Gilbert \u201972), Nolhann Couillaud (Antoine Latrasse \u201915); Matheo Frisach (Liam Couturier \u201952), Yanis Basse (Lohann Gil \u201959), Ruben Pargade (Mael Turpin \u201950); Baptiste Veschambre, Nils Punti (Alban Portat \u201938-\u201940 &amp; 64); Marceau Marzullo, Romeo Bonnard Martin, Tana Keletaona (Lucas Andjissermatchi \u201955).<\/p>\n<p><strong>IRELAND:<\/strong> Noah Byrne; Derry Moloney, Johnny O\u2019Sullivan, James O\u2019Leary (Ethan Black \u201980), Daniel Ryan; Tom Wood (Charlie O\u2019Shea \u201964), Christopher Barrett (Fergus Callington \u201974); Max Doyle (Christian Foley \u201957), Rian Handley (Duinn Maguire \u201953), Sami Bishti (Blake McClean \u201957); Dylan McNeice, Donnacha McGuire (Joe Finn \u201953); Josh Neill, Billy Hayes (Ben Blaney \u201959), Diarmaid O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Referee:<\/strong> Christopher Allison (SARU).<\/p>\n<p>                <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U20 Six Nations Championship: France U20s 50 Ireland U20s 21 IT WAS a frustrating start to the U20s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,150073,18,13,14,2220,6,19,17,19865,11,12,15,16,5,4738,2525,7,8,156711],"class_list":{"0":"post-326359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-disappointment","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-ireland-republic","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-report","25":"tag-rugby","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories","28":"tag-u20"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116033767584823805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}