France will go into the World Rugby U20 Championship 2018 on home soil as Six Nations champions after a 24-3 win over Wales on Friday secured Les Bleuets the title.
Having gone from third to first in the U20 Six Nations in the space of 12 months, France will now be looking for similar gains on the global stage when they host the elite age-grade competition, from 30 May to 17 June.
Les Bleuets came up just short in Georgia last year, finishing fourth to make it 10 years without a medal at that level.
But confidence will be riding high after they bounced back from the round four loss to England – their first defeat on home soil in 14 Six Nations matches – to secure the title in Colwyn Bay with relative ease.
Fly-half Romain Ntamack pounced on a charged down kick to set Les Bleuets on their way before winger Clément Laporte and flanker Cameron Woki joined him on the scoresheet as the visitors led 17-3 at the break.
Into the second half and Wales still couldn’t find a way through France’s defence, and they fell further behind when scrum-half Jules Gimbert scored from a counterattack to claim the all-important bonus point try.
Should be a good World Rugby U20s this year. All the Six Nations sides are in good positions, NZ strong as ever. Will be interesting to see how SA go, with them warming up with a UK tour. Argentina a wild card. Not sure on Australia yet.
— Alex Shaw (@alexshawsport) March 16, 2018
Numbers game
Meanwhile, England did all they could to wrestle top spot off France by taking maximum points from their final game, scoring seven tries, four in the final quarter, to beat Ireland 48-15 in Coventry.
While disappointed at falling just short of winning the title, England coach Steve Bates concentrated on the bigger picture and focused on the positives in his post-match analysis.
“We’ve used a lot of players in the tournament and that’s important for the development of this squad ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship.”
Italy’s progress at U20 level bodes well for them ahead of the U20 Championship in a couple of months’ time, a 45-31 win over Scotland seeing them take fourth place, their highest-ever finish in the competition.
They ran in seven tries to seal a bonus-point victory in the final round, picking up their second win of the Championship after last week’s historic triumph over Wales.
