Half-time
France: 18
England: 0

Match report

France Under 17s finished in dominant fashion eventually running seven tries past the England Community Lions U17s.

The Lions started slowly, conceding several penalties that put them under pressure, and were forced to move things about when Lewis Johnson received an early knock and had to be withdrawn.

After weathering an early storm, the touring team put together a couple of constructive sets themselves forcing a drop out while Danny Stables, Cassius Turner Walsh, and skipper Elijah Delaidriti all went close to points.

France then found themselves on the front foot and opened the scoring after eleven minutes when Steven Oscar Jocelyn burst through on an excellent line. The hosts then went further clear with two tries in three minutes.

First Adrian De La Rose grounded despite the attention of three defenders before a smart runaround move inspired by Beauvilliers opened up some space and Lorik LeJeune, a recent star on the Provence Du Sud tour of the UK, supported to score.

Dumont goaled both and added a penalty on the stroke of half-time after skipper Delaidriti was sin-binned for the Lions. This opened a 0-18 advantage that was stretched by a further two points when Dumont added a penalty after the Lions were penalised for overzealous kick pressure.

A couple of minutes after that, Seth Woodend was sin-binned along with Beauvilliers following what looked to be a tip tackle on the Lion and a short flashpoint. The Lions defended manfully for the next five minutes until the return of their skipper before swift passing from an attacking scrum play resulted in Leny Stacul dotting down at the corner to move the score to 0-24.

Just after the hour, Nate Parker was adjudged to have said something out of turn and was shown the yellow card. This left the Lions short again, and France took advantage working further space down the right for Stacul to add his second try.

Two more tries came against a tired defence in the last ten minutes as Thibault Guilhaumo drifted out of dummy-half to run 20 metres and then the outstanding Dumont fittingly grabbed the final points with a quicksilver try and his sixth goal to wrap up the 0-40 win.

The Lions will regroup over the weekend and prepare for the series' final game on Monday evening.

France U17s:
Mickael Lallemand-Rabasse, Tom Zitter Guttinez, Tanui Tetura-Moulin, Leny Stacul, Arthur Carret, Mathis Dumont, Leo Ricard, Mahault Beauvilliers, Paul Galy, Steven Oscar Jocelyn, Llan Boualem, Tom Poncelet. Subs: Thibault Guilhaumou, Lorik Lejeune, Adrian De La Rose, Yanis Ballet. 18th Man: 18 Ayemeric Papailhau.

Tries: Jocelyn (12), De La Rose (26), LeJeune (29), Stacul 2 (56, 68), Guilhaumou (76), Dumont (79).
Goals: Dumont 6/9.

England Community Lions U17s:
Alfie Milton, Joseph Griffiths, Ellis Clarke, Seth Woodend, Jaylen Conway, Harry Townsend, Nate Parker, Matthew Creasey, Lewis Johnson, Cassius Turner Walsh, Thomas Clarke,  Elijah Delaidriti, Lucas Tyrer. Subs: Danny Stables, Owen Tyler Cole, Matthew Eden, Connor Hall. 18th Man: Rio Walker.