UNDER 18 INTERNATIONAL

France Juniors completed their short tour of Wales with a second convincing win in a row, crushing Great Britain Community Lions Under 18 on Wednesday evening. It was a fabulous team effort from the French who thrilled the Blackwood crowd with some breathtaking interplay that resulted in eight tries from eight different scorers. The match was over as a contest by halftime as the UTC-laden French ran riot from the moment Limoux centre Pierre Louis Bourrel scored in the corner.

The British, featuring seven Welsh boys, squandered their best chance just after Rene Vignau had scored France’s second, when David Orwell spilled the ball in the shadow of Les Bleuets’ posts. Right wing Joseph Negre showed his power to score on 18 minutes. Luckily for the Lions, Lilian Albet, the normally reliable Villeneuve marksman, had left his kicking boots at home, failing on all three conversion attempts. His replacement, Morgan Escare, made no mistake when he converted Marc Meye’s well worked score five minutes later. Escare then registered his own four-pointer, put through a gap by the classy Damien Cardace, his conversion making it 24-0 at the break.

France were fited an opportunity at the start of the second half and made no mistake. Glenn Riley’s knock on 20 metres from the Lions’ line gave France a scrum from which a fine passing move ended with Guillaume Martinez scoring the corner. A brief period of sustained British pressure failed to break France’s resolute defence. Substitute Lenny Foncillas got in on the act, chasing down a long kick downfield to score before front row Thibault Margalet created a gap for his fellow prop Theo Bonnoriez to touch down.

Pictured: Glenn Riley tries to evade a prowling French defence.

GREAT BRITAIN COMMUNITY LIONS U18
Shane Ackerley, Own Williams, Loren Quick, Lewis Reece, Reece Lazenby, Callum Phillips, Dale Evans, Stephen Welton, Alistair Leak, Adam Davies, Glenn Riley, David Orwell, Matthew Huby. Subs: Kyle Blackmore, Matthew Syron, Kirk Collins, Daniel Bergon

FRANCE U18
Alexis Falip, Joseph Negre, Damien Cardace, Pierre Louis Bourrel, Guillaume Martinez, Lilian Albet, Morgan Escare, Julian Bousquet, Eloi Pelissier, Theo Bonnoriez, Remi Vignau, Marc Meye, Thibault Margalet. Subs: Anthony Deleigne, Lenny Foncillas, Andrew Bigat, Nicolas Houblop