FRANCE U19 v AIS

A French junior side beat the Australian Institute of Sport for the first time since the tours began, four years ago, following a torrid match against the AIS under-18s, who had narrowly defeated the France Under-17s 16-13 three days earlier.

Thierry Dumaine, head coach of the Cadets, was delighted with his charges’ victory: "I'm obviously more than happy with our performance.  We’ve come a long way. In our first game against the AIS we lost 40-10. This shows the progress we’ve made in the past three years through hard work and discipline. This victory shows the potential of our players.”

France took early command but some risky football allowed the Australians to come back from an 18-10 halftime deficit to lead 20-18 with 22 minutes remaining. A William Barthau penalty made it level before fullback Clement Bienes’ 58^th minute try and a smart Barthau drop goal secured the historic win. Yacine Boutouba and John Boudebza were the standouts for a France side that was well led by loose forward and captain David Guasch. For the visitors, Cale Hobday was their best, and was voted man-of-the-match by both sides.

AIS head coach Brian Johnson was happy with his side’s effort: “Despite being disappointed with the loss, our effort and composure was commendable in very difficult circumstances."

Pictured: William Barthau.

FRANCE U19
Clément Bienes, Seydou Coulibaly, Thomas Ambert, Quentin Nauroy, Romain Peault, Tony Gigot, William Barthau, Maxime Cicirko, John Boudebza, Yacine Boutouba, Cyril Moliner, Checke Ba, David Guasch (c). Subs: Geoffrey Zava, Romain Pourret, Jordi Lignieres, Damien Gautier