Sam Prendergast's 78th minute penalty rescued a late win for the Ireland U20's, as they look to record another Grand Slam, following a narrow win over France this evening.

Ireland looked bullied for large parts of the tie but in the end the brilliance of their fly half was the decider, Charlie Tector won it last year with a ;ate kick over the French and this year another Leinster man does the same.

In the early stages it was all about gaining ground and being able to build an attack, France looked to test the Irish line from the off by kicking in behind but through the boots of Sam Prendergast and Fintan Gunne managed to relieve the pressure. When Ireland got up top the French half after a penalty to touch by Prendergast they looked steady and the forwards especially menacing to find a score.

A knock forward however after a tap and go penalty five metres shy of the line brought the pressure to an end for the time being on the French line, but Ireland still kept the pressure on and forced them into an error touching down inside their own line, but nothing transpired from the move.

Cagey between the two teams in the early minutes but the Irish remained on top looking for an opening, some ill discipline from the French brought a penalty which Prendergast pointed for the posts, a perfect strike by the fly-half dissected the posts and put the hosts ahead by three points after ten minutes.

It was very much an early indicator from the Irish that they were looking to put a marker down early in the opening half and really test out and answer questions from the French defence, another penalty allowed Prendergast once more to find touch within striking distance of the line.

Gus McCarthy gave a perfect feed into the lineout and the resulting maul looked to be headed for touch but a charge in direction saw them drive the French back toward goal, the forwards sniped short looking for the opening try, it came from prop Paddy McCarthy as he was quick enough to pick and go at the back of the maul and score, Prendergast's conversion make it a ten point advantage by the end of the opening quarter.

Far from smooth sailing however for the men in green, a real test from France brought them an opening try, conceding a lineout and subsequent penalties brought the French close to goal, with a powerful forward line they really tested the Irish defence and lock Hugo Auradou was able to get the ball over in a sea of bodies for their opening try, Tom Raffy added the subsequent conversion which made it a three point game after 20 minutes.

Heads would not drop by the home side after the French try, it took four minutes and a few phases but again the away side guilty at the breakdown, with Prendergast showing wisdom to kick for the posts from a short distance to put a bigger gap between them, those penalties were hurting France as the boot of Prendergast is exceptional, the 19 year old Lansdowne and Leinster out half one to watch for the future.

Set Piece game from the hosts was looking strong and well practised in the build up to the tie, a strong scrum for Ireland put alarm bells going for the French and with another penalty signalled Prendergast deployed his route one missile for a lineout close to the line. Again McCarthy threw well and their maul was solid, Hugh Gavin made a drive for the line but looked held up, France were lucky to avoid a penalty try after prop Zaccharie Affane pulled a maul down but ended up in the sin bin.

The TMO however consulted with the match referee Angus Mabey that Gavin looked to have grounded the ball on his drive for the line despite originally looking to be held up which led to the French yellow, the try was awarded, the yellow card remained and Prendergast landed another beautiful conversion 

Despite being down to 14 men, the French still caused issues and in attack looked at their brilliant best, another lineout gave them the chance to test the Irish defence once again, questions on whether Ireland would contest the lineout were asked but it was the maul where the questions really came from, a gap opened up behind the Irish maul and the French made a strong drive through and with no cover Brent Liufau crossed for their second try and Raffy’s extra two from the tee had it once again a six point game. 

Like the first try the hosts went back again after conceding not looking to give France any momentum at adding a score before the break, again they stuck with it and kept attacking looking for a gap, another penalty gave them a chance for late points, with Lenni Nouchi showed his marching orders to the sideline for a ruck infringement he saw yellow.

The tap and go looked to be causing France issues but they turned it over and Louis Penverne made a terrific run to clear the line he offloaded to Emilien Gailleton as his kick and chance tested Prendergast and McErlean who showed serious pace to get back with Prendergast managing to secure possession. Ireland spent the remaining minutes on the back foot but in the end kept the board at 20-14 in their favour.   

Prendergast got Ireland on the board early in the second half, Louis Penverne conceding the penalty for a Ruck infringement, minutes later Raffy looked to have cancelled it out with a strike of his own as Gus McCarthy was penalised in the ruck, Raffy’s strike hit the left upright and bounced back into play, reactions at an all time high for the Irish defence to stop a potential try from the rebound as they mauled well to drive France over for a goal line dropout.

Ireland were under the cosh from a much bigger and stronger French side, Paddy McCarthy was penalised in the scrum, another penalty advantage came from an offside and another misdemeanour by George Hadden saw the prop going to the sin bin, now with the extra man advantage the French looked for the line, they got over but it was held up with some great defending, Affane made a high tackle as Ireland tried to clear the lines and it was a massive let off for the hosts as they had been living dangerously up to that point.

It was a brief let off as back came Les Blues, a lot of their game had been heavily orchestrated by their forwards as we neared the hour mar in the second half, they looked to drive short to try and push Ireland over, Leo Carbonneau controlled from the back of a ruck and looked for options out wide instead to use his backline, bringing them into the game brought their third try, some fast hands carved the Irish open out wide and Theo Attissogbe crossed in the corner, the missed conversion by replacement Hugo Reus kept Ireland ahead.

After the try the TMO brought further woes on Ireland as Diarmuid Mangan was sent to the bin for a high head tackle in the buildup to the French try, with 13 men now on the field France would hit the killer blow to take the lead minutes later as Lenni Nouchi at the back of a powerful French maul got their bonus point, the conversion however had Ireland behind by a single point.

Now it was do or die for the hosts, having take the hit of two yellows and two tries in quick succession, they needed to dig deep and get back into the tie, they would through Brian Gleeson as the big Number 8 got them back into the lead and Prendergast made the lead a little bit stronger from the tee.

In a highly dramatic conclusion to the tie, Enzo Benmegal crossed in the corner as Ireland once again were too narrow in defence the winger had time and space to dive over for their fifth try and Reus’s conversion again made it a one point lead for the French Giants.

Cometh the hour cometh the man, Prendergast was having a big performance and a penalty in the 75th minute looked to have been the moment but his kick dropped short and France had to clear, from the line out Ireland stayed on the attack and another blast of the whistle gave Prendergast a second roll of the dice, he slotted the kick Ireland held out to blow the roof off the Cork venue.