Wales U20's Beaten By France

Young Osprey Matthew Jarvis kicked eight points on afternoon to forget for the Welsh U20 side as eight tries and a 33-point haul from theirimpressive fly half Pierre Bernard ensured France finished the IRBTOSHIBA Junior World Championship 2009 with a flourish by beating Wales68-13 at the Level 5 Stadium in Fukuoka.

Francehit the ground running against Wales, just as they had done with amesmerising opening half hour against South Africa in the pool stages,and the match was all but over by half time with the Under 20 SixNations champions leading 33-6.

Theysettled any nerves that may have been there with Bernard's penaltywithin the first minute and the fly half had stretched France's lead to9-0 by the time 10 minutes had elapsed with two more penalties.

Aconcerted period of pressure resulted in the first try, France captainAlexandre Lapandry touching down with Bernard again successful with theboot. Within minutes scrum half Nicolas Bezy snipped off the scrum toscore under the posts.

Bernard's conversionand his third penalty made it 26-0 inside the opening quarter and,although Wales were finally able to get into the match and threaten theFrench 22, they turned over the ball and Remi Lamerat made a greatbreak up the other end.

Another penaltykept the scoreboard ticking over and despite their commanding positionFrance were in no mood to ease off against a side that had ended theirsemi final hopes in last year's Championship by winning the pooldecider 23-19.

A clever low kick fromBernard split the defence and centre Lamerat had the simple task ofgathering and grounding the ball near the posts to make it 33-0 afteronly 28 minutes. Wales, though, managed to build some possession andgot on the scoreboard with two Matthew Jarvis penalties.

Francestarted the second half in the same vein as they had begun the match,Bernard putting up a great cross field kick, which full back DjibrilCamara collected near the line and touched down for his side's fourthtry.

The match though was far more balancedin the second half with Wales running every ball in their attempts tocross the try-line but France still had the controlling influence evenafter their full back Camara was sent off with Wales losing two playersto the sin-bin within minutes.

Replacementhooker Vincent Colliat and prop Rabah Slimani crossed while France hadthe man advantage, before Bernard got the try his performance warrantedto make it 61-6 with 10 minutes remaining.

Bernardput up another chip and gathered the ball, then slipped a tackle andsent flanker Benoit Guyot in for France's eighth and final try, beforeWales centre Jason Harries touched down in the corner as his side hadto settle for sixth overall.

VIEW THE MATCH DETAILS >>

POST MATCH REACTION

France Head Coach Philippe Boher:"We took this match very seriously and prepared well in the lead up. Wewanted to control the game and that's what we did. We scored a numberof tries, some very well-constructed. It was a good way to finishdespite the slight indiscipline, but it's a good way to finish thetournament."

"I think there are a number of players who will go on from this squad to wear the France senior team jersey."

France Team Manager Philippe Sella:"We can have a few regrets about the 15 or 20 minutes we didn'tconcentrate during the South Africa game, but this is a really goodteam, a good atmosphere and a good spirit. I am very proud to be themanager of this team."

"I think there are afew really good players for the future. Number six and captain todayAlexandre Lapandry, is a really good player, for example."

Wales captain Scott Andrews:"We still see it [the tournament] as a success, even though this wasn't the result we were looking for. The French team were a very good sideand I think the better team won on the day.

Wales Head Coach Phil Davies: "From this tournament and from the Six Nations up until now, we've grown as players and people as well."

"Whenwe come up against some of the top five sides in the world, we battleand we try hard, but we know we still have things to improve. Butoverall the players have worked very hard and the tournament has beenvery successful for us in lots of ways."

"Theenthusiasm to set the tournament up was excellent. We've stayed inFukuoka for nearly three weeks and it's become our second home. We wantto go back to Wales, but we're sorry to leave in one way. Thetournament has been a great learning experience for everybody - themanagement, the players and the coaches."