France 29 Ireland 10: Errors cost Ireland's under-21s as they went down to their French counterparts in Strasbourg. With UCC prop Darragh Hurley in the sin-bin, Ireland damaged their Six Nations aspirations by conceding three tries either side of the break.
Mark McDermott’s side travelled south on the back of an encouraging 34-9 home win against Italy, and they held their own in the first quarter.
Lansdowne secondrow Devin Toner, standing at 6ft 10in, was a constant target for Irish captain Stuart Philpott in the lineout, and Jonathan Sexton offered an influential presence at outhalf.
Sexton sent 18-year-old centre Darren Cave haring through a gap after 16 minutes, only for the Belfast Harlequins flyer to be hauled down short of the line.
But crucially Ireland made no in-roads on the scoreboard. Sexton missed attempts at an opening penalty and drop goal, and had to watch helplessly as French prop Yohan Montes was driven over after a lineout maul on 20 minutes.
Lionel Beauxis converted and added a penalty before Sexton opened his account with a 32nd-minute penalty. Three minutes later, Hurley felt the wrath of Welsh referee Neil Ballard when he was sin-binned for slowing ruck ball.
Tries from winger Gregory Puyo and secondrow Loic Jacquet followed for France before the break as they began to find their link men.
Les Bleus added a fourth try to their 22-3 half-time buffer through centre Maxiem Mermoz, just 11 seconds into the second half.
Ireland garnered a penalty try with France guilty of a spate of infringements close to their line on 50 minutes.
Sexton converted to pare the gap down to 29-10, France then lost Jacquet to a yellow card, but their lead went untroubled in the final quarter.
FRANCE U21: Maxime Medard; Yann Fior, Thibault Lacroix, Maxime Mermoz, Gregory Puyo; Lionel Beauxis, Fabien Cibray (capt); Florian Cazalot, Laurent Sempere, Yohan Montes, Julien Ledevedec, Loic Jacquet, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Nicolas Bontinck, Fabien Alexandre. Replacements: Arnaud Heguy, Laurent Cabarry, Carpentier, Steve Malonga, Damien Neveu, Thomas Anies, Julien Jeuvray.
IRELAND U21: Fionn Carr; Peter Durcan, Darren Cave, Conan Doyle, Matthew Williams; Jonathan Sexton, Paul Marshall; Darragh Hurley, Stuart Philpott (capt), Paul Doran-Jones, Daniel Tuohy, Devin Toner, Ross Noonan, Ejike Uzoigwe, Billy Holland. Replacements: Sean Cronin, Callum Black, David McGowan, Sean O'Brien, Duncan Williams, Tom Gleeson, Fergus McFadden.
Referee: Neil Ballard (Wales)
