Le Bluets dismantle Junior All Blacks
- 1821
No one could have predicted the one-sided affair that took place in Paarl, between The France and New Zealand U20 during the second fixture of the World Rugby U20 Championship in earlier today. The French side made light work of the Junior All Blacks subjecting them to a convincing 35-14 defeat under muddy conditions.
Le Bluets got off to a firing start, as they drew first blood in the eighth minute through left-wing Theo Attissogbe when he dotted down in the corner after a quick set-piece off the back of a ruck inside the AB’s five. Fly-half Hugo Reus added the extra two points to take an early 7-0 lead.
France continued to pile on the pressure as they played on the front foot for most of the half. Their resilience would be rewarded eventually in the 20th minute through lock Posolo Tuilagi, who powered over the line off the back of a maul on the Junior All Black five metre line. Reus again added the conversion as the French doubled their lead with plenty of time left to play.
Ten Minutes later, Les Bluets made it 21-0 with a try, this time from right-wing Baptiste Jauneau after a perfectly articulated set-piece. TMO awarded the try before another Reus conversion. The Junior All Blacks came close to getting on the board in the 40th minute however a wasted lineout opportunity which saw France going into the half with a comfortable 21-0 lead.
It looked as though there was no hope the Junior AB’s as La Bluets scored in the opening two minutes courtesy of Tuilagi again. The game then turned bitter as three yellow cards were dished out in the space six minutes, one going the way of New Zealand winger Mecca Springer who thought he had scored before being sent off for dangerous play in the build-up.
Angus Mabey then awarded a penalty try to the Junior AB’s to hand them a lifeline. They then doubled up on that try with another one through number seven Peter Lakai to cut the points deficit to 14. However, it would prove futile as Brent Liufau sealed the game for France as they walked away as victors winning, with fly-half Hugo Reus kicking five from five.
