TOPS
As against England, the third line reigned over the meeting this Friday, in Cape Town, during the final of the U20 World Cup won by the Bleuets against Ireland (50-14). Constant activity, impressive power. It is difficult to find all the qualifiers for this intractable trio. Marko Gazzotti continues to impress, having been one of the best players in the tournament, if not the best. The N. 8 from Grenoble was still everywhere in this part, when Jégou did not stop running and progressing ball in hand as on the penultimate try scored by the third man of this trio, Lenni Nouchi, like a symbol. “In this team there are a lot of X factors, but if we have to remember something from this 3rd row it is that it is very complementary, on and off the field”, analyzes coach Sébastien Calvet in the conference of press.
The center of Stade Toulousain produced a superb performance while he was more discreet in the semi-finals. Very enterprising, he opened up many breaches and was decisive on Ferté’s first try by monopolizing several defenders before creating a gap. His inspirations were always positive and allowed his team to move forward and progress over the game.
The French rear did not hide his desire to play throughout the match. His two attempts (14th and 70th) came to reward enormous activity, mixed with unique qualities of speed and support. Last attacker, he was often the first to find the fault to launch France on the road to victory.
FLOPS
The left pillar of Leinster (20 years old) illustrated the loss of Irish control at the end of the first period with his two faults in the 39th minute. Guilty of collapsing the French carried ball and then of hindering the release, McCarthy left his partners alone for 10 minutes, which coincided with the moment when the Bleuets took full measure of the situation. The try refused in Jégou just after the Irish yellow card only postponed the deadline for the 2nd half, with Jouvin then Depoortere to register two decisive tries which gave a definitive advantage to the France U20 team. .
If it is necessary to underline a negative point with this young team of France, it is the beginning of the parts. Jostled for a few minutes from the start against Wales, the French suffered the law of the English in the semi-finals before completely reversing the trend. In the final against Ireland, the same pattern was observed as Les Bleuets did not touch the ball until Gunne’s try which allowed the Irish to score the first seven points of the match.
