Ireland A were denied a Grand Slam by France A tonight when they were beaten by 30-20 in La Roche, France. France led for the most part and were 17-9 up at half time after running in two tries from Yannick Jauzion after just six minutes and David Couzinet after 17 minutes.
Three penalties from Barry Everitt kept Ireland in touch and two more after half time from the London Irish out-half meant that midway through the second half Ireland were only 5 points behind.
But Everitt's boot then let him down on two penalty attempts after which El Horga scored a breakaway try for France under the posts to effectively secure the victory. Mike Mullins ran in for Ireland's only try late on to reduce the deficit to ten points for Matt Williams' men who, claimed the championship with an impressive four wins out of five.