Following report kindly supplied by WRU.
REPORT: Power packed French take title against battling Wales
France Under 20 made it a double dose of delight for their country in Colwyn Bay as they followed up the Grand Slam triumph by the women's team with a four-try, title winning performance.
Three first half tries against a Welsh side that tackled its heart out and never gave up on testing the French defensive line set-up the platform for a try in the final quarter from scrum half Jules Gimbert to seal victory and the title.
Having been beaten 22-6 at home by England last week, the French travelled knowing they needed to win with a bonus-point to pip the English to the title. They managed to do that, although the second half revival with the wind by Wales caused them more than a few worries.
The massive French pack presented Tommy Reffell and his men with an almost impossible task and they could simply find no way of breaking down the brick wall like defensive line. They had no answer to the power of the French scrum in the first half and did well to restrict the visitors to three tries in the opening 40 minutes.
The French got off to a flying start when they charged down an attempted low kick out of his own 22 by Cai Evans and Romain Ntamack followed up to pounce for a try. Evans kicked a penalty to make up for his misfortune, but it didn't take long before the second French try came.
Wales had successfully defended a driving line-out midway through the first half, but when the ball was spread wide the wing Clement Laporte went over from two metres out. Once again the conversion was missed, but Ntamack made not mistake when flanker Cameron Woki just reached the line at the foot of the home posts.
The work rate of the Welsh forwards in the face of so much adversity in the first half was admirable and they fought for their lives to keep the blue shirts at bay in the closing moments to leave the gap at 17-3 at the break.
As the England score against Ireland mounted - they beat them 48-15 in the end - so the French knew they had to score one more try and win the game to take the title. But they found Wales in no mood to surrender.
Reffell's braves dominated the third quarter and three times kicked for a line-out when awarded penalties in front of the French posts. They hammered away at the French defence for phase after phase with the outstanding Taine Basham, Rhys Carre and Max Williams carrying hard time after time.
But there was simply no way through and, after being under the cosh for 21 minutes, France broke the Welsh stranglehold and struck with a brilliant counter-attack to grab the vital fourth try. Evans cleared from behind his own line, but the French back three turned the possession into a try for Gimbert that Ntamack converted.
That was game lover and the Six Nations championship in the bag for the French. Wales, who finished fifth in the table, will now move on to the Junior World Championships in France this summer with their next two games being against Australia and New Zealand.
However good the junior Wallabies and All Blacks turn out to be, neither will have a bigger set of forwards than the French. Head coach Jason Strange can look back on a championship that produced wins over Scotland and Ireland and gave him the chance to look at no fewer than 36 players.
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