France U20 celebrate nine-try demolition of Wales

Under 20 Six Nations

France (21) 63

Tries: Akrab 2, Pacome, Mousques 2, Brau-Boirie, Taccola, Llaveria, Jabea Njocke Cons: Jurd 9

Wales (12) 19

Tries: Boshoff, H Thomas 2 Cons: Wilde, Forde

France produced a masterclass as they ran in nine tries against Wales to kick-start their Under-20s Six Nations campaign.

Wales had been in the contest, but were blown away by the quality of the young French side who ran in six second half tries much to the delight of the 12,000 crowd in Vannes.

Lyam Akrab and Xan Mousques both crossed twice for the hosts, with the biggest cheer of the night coming for home town player Robin Taccola's score.

Player of the match Diego Jurd also enjoyed a flawless night from the tee, converting all nine tries, while Harry Thomas scored in either half for Wales.

In front of a packed Stade de la Rabine, the hosts started the brighter of the two sides and were rewarded with a try after just four minutes.

A solid five metre lineout provided an attacking platform and while Wales dealt with the initial maul, the French forwards kept the ball well before Akrab powered over.

Wales grew in confidence and some big carries into the French 22 opened up space for Steffan Emanuel to put a huge pass out to Aidan Boshoff who finished in the tightest of corners.

France hit back with Ugo Pacome running a neat angle which carved up the defence and a third try looked to have followed soon after.

Wales full-back Scott Delnevo misjudged the bounce on Jurd's kick which resulted in a 50-22.

Mousques's quick throw caught Wales napping and he exchanged passes with Pacome before crossing, but his effort was chalked off after Antoine Deliance was shown a yellow card for a shoulder charge in the build-up.

Wales took immediate advantage of the extra man, with Thomas touching down after a powerful drive, but a TMO intervention found obstruction.

Thomas was not to be denied at the second time of asking, Wales again turning down kickable points and rightly backing their driving lineout.

Wales were then reduced to 14 players with skipper Harry Beddall sent to the sin-bin for hands in the ruck. This gifted France a final attacking opportunity just before the break and it was Akrab who crossed again to secure the early bonus-point.

France run riot

France's quality shone through in the second half with their replacements making an immediate impact.

Mousques finally got to celebrate a try and it was a carbon copy of Boshoff's effort as he latched onto a looping pass to cross in the same corner.

A delightful show and go from Jurd set up Fabien Brau-Boirie's try, before Mousques combined beautifully with Pacome down the wing for his second.

Despite the scoreboard mounting against them, Wales refused to lie down and a quick-tap penalty from Thomas caught the defence off-guard with the hooker crashing over.

But any glimmers of a comeback were soon quashed as a perfectly weighted kick pass was plucked out of the air by Taccola who crossed in the corner to send the crowd wild.

Replacement scrum-half Nathan Llaveria took his opportunity as France reached a half century of points before Edouard-Junior Jabea Njocke found his way over in the final play.

Wales head coach Richard Whiffin said: "Disappointed with the scoreline. I don't think it reflected the game.

"A very clinical performance from the French in that second half.

"Even at 21-12 I was confident. I thought there were good things in our game in that first half.

"But that 10 minutes after half-time, we didn't control the game well enough and gave them a lot of opportunities, they obviously grew off the back of that.

"I can't fault the boys' effort. They knew they were in the game at half-time, we've just got to make that 80 minutes as opposed to 40."

Line-ups

France: Ugo Pacome; Mathis Ibo, Robin Taccola, Lucas Vigneres, Xan Mousques; Diego Jurd, Baptiste Tilloles; Samuel Jean Christophe, Lyam Akrab, Owen Sorhaindo, Bartholome Sanson, Corentin Mezou (capt), Antoine Deliance, Marceau Marzullo, Elyjah Ibsaiene

Replacements: Quentin Algay, Edouard-Junior Jabea Njocke, Mohamed Megherbi, Raphael Darquier, Sialevailea Tolofua, Nathan Llaveria, Luka Keletaona, Fabien Brau Boirie.

Wales: Scott Delnevo; Harry Rees-Weldon, Elijah Evans, Steffan Emanuel, Aidan Boshoff; Harri Wilde, Logan Franklin; Ioan Emanuel, Harry Thomas, Sam Scott, Kenzie Jenkin, Nick Thomas , Deian Gwynne, Harry Beddall (capt) Evan Minto.

Replacements: Saul Hurley, Louie Trevett, Jac Pritchard, Tom Cottle, Dan Gemine, Carwyn Edwards, Harri Ford, Tom Bowen