Scotland U20s concede eight tries as France power to victory in Six Nations

France ran in eight tries in a powerful showing to defeat Scotland in round three of the under-20 Six Nations in Agen last night.

In front of a cracking crowd of 10,411 in the Stade Armandie, the Scots could not build on their win over Wales in round two as they went down 54-12. The visitors were dealt a blow when winger Ben Evans had to leave the field after just two minutes, Geordie Gwynn replacing him.

France took the lead in the ninth minute when some strong drives by the forwards created good ball for the backline and full-back Mathis Ferte crossed for a try. Stand-off Hugo Reus converted.

After 15 minutes Scotland thought they had bagged their first try on the game, but Gwynn was adjudged to have lost the ball forward in the act of scoring.

Rudi Brown scored a try for Scotland U20s in their 54-12 defeat in France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

They did score a try in the 20th minute though when back-row Rudi Brown powered over. Stand-off Richie Simpson could not convert and, two minutes later, France scored again.

Centre Arthur Mathiron ran a great line to go over for an unconverted try which made it 12-5 to France. In the 25th minute France’s lead became 14 points when scrum-half Leo Carbonneau went over for try number three with Reus converting.

Scotland knew they needed to get the next score to stay in the fight – and they did just that. Their second try came from second-row Ruairaidh Hart with Simpson converting to make it 19-12.

France scored their bonus point fourth try a few minutes before half-time though, second-row Lenni Nouchi fighting his way over with Reus converting to make it 26-12. And when the same man went over for a converted try just moments later it was 33-12 at the break.

Scotland brought Jerry Blyth-Lafferty and Jonny Rutherford off the bench at half-time and then made a few more changes minutes later. There were no more points until the 58th minute when France back-row Oscar Jegou scored try number six for them, Reus converting.

Zaccharie Affane scored next in the 63rd minute with Reus again adding the extras before a late penalty try.