Scotland Under-20 8 - 8 France Under-20 : Hard-working Under-20s hold 'Baby Bleus' to historic draw

Published on Friday 5 February 2010 22:41

SCOTLAND achieved a historic draw against France in the opening round of the Junior Six Nations in Inverness to end a seemingly endless run of defeats at the hands of the French.

The Scots were probably worth a victory after an inspired second-half performance in which they threw off their fear of the opposition and took the game to the French to suggest that in the coming matches they will be competitive. Equally France deserved a win if only for their dominant and stylish play in the early part of the first half. It was the improved performance of the pack in which skipper Stuart McInally excelled along with hooker Alun Walker, lock Rob Harley and Michael Maltman posting strong displays that gave Scotland the impetus they needed.

And behind the scrum there was no less effort as powerful centres Alex Dunbar and Jonny Kennedy began to make inroads in midfield. Had Scotland not kicked away so much valuable possession then a victory might have been possible.

Scotland had to endure a torrid opening five minutes of the game that ultimately proved profitable for France. The Scots' problems began at the kick-off with Rob Harley failing to take the ball cleanly and allowing the French forwards to set up a series of driving mauls.

Two penalties against Scotland put further pressure on Scotland who were unable to defend a wide attack by France that ended with winger Jeremy Sinzelle scoring on the overlap.

Scotland were again made to work hard in defence when scrum half Alexi Bales broke from the base of the scrum before sprinting some 50 metres. But this time Scotland were able to defend the close range driving by the French pack.

After surviving the opening quarter Scotland gradually came back into the game only to be hit by the loss of lock Grant Gilchrist with a leg injury. Then as the half neared its end Scotland missed two scoring chances when Alex Blair and then Ollie Grove were short with long range penalty attempts leaving the Scots trailing 5-0 at the break.

With France down to fourteen men after lock Georges Souvent had been sin-binned Scotland struck decisively from clever approach work by Craig Owenson and Ollie Grove, a thundering run by Kennedy and then clinical finishing to give Blair a try in the corner.

A penalty by Romain Barthelemy gave France the lead again but a similar effort by Blair drew the sides level. Then two minutes before full-time Blair lined up a potentially winning kick but sadly for Scotland the ball drifted wide.

Scorers: Scotland: Try - Blair; Pen - Blair. France: Tries - Sinzelle; Pens - Barthelemy.

Scotland U20: T Brown (Edinburgh Accies); O Grove (Worcester Warriors), J Kennedy (Sale Sharks), A Dunbar (Selkirk), D Fife (Currie); A Blair (Edinburgh Accies), A Black (Leeds Carnegie); C Owenson (Heriot's), A Walker (Currie), C Philips (Stewart's-Melville), R Harley (West of Scotland), G Gilchrist (Stirling County), M Maltman (Heriot's), D Denton (Edinburgh Accies), S McInally (Watsonians) captain G Hunter (Glasgow Hawks), M Reid (Heriot's), K Hamilton (Caithness)

France U20: B Dulin (Agen); J Sinzelle (Toulon), R Lamrat (Toulouse), R Barthlmy (Toulon), C Lagain (Bayonne); G Bosch (Perpignan), A Bales (Agen); K Gourdon (Clermont Auvergne), T Molcard (Biarritz)captain, A Erbani (Agen), G Souvent (Stade Rochelais), J Sousa (Lyon), M Giudicelli (Montpellier), M Ivaldi (Toulon), Ben Arous (Racing Metro) Replacements used B Geledan (Biarritz), G Lamache (Toulon), M Blondin (Bourgoin-Jallieu), J Grange (Lyon), J Fritz (Lyon)

Referee: A Falzone (Italy)