In a battle between back-to-back world champions and consecutive Grand Slam champions, the World Rugby Under 20 Championship always seemed destined to be close.
But France put in a performance that will live long in the memory of those lucky enough to be at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, defeating Ireland 50-14.
After a tight first half, Les Bleuets blew their opposition out of the water with a stunning second-half display, eventually scoring seven tries.
Just how did they do that though? We analyse how France Under-20s managed to run away with a convincing victory and with it, a third World Championship title in a row.
Blows either side of half-time
The opening half was extremely close with Ireland actually taking the lead again after 33 minutes when John Devine crossed, but Les Bleuets managed to strike at the perfect time twice.
Either side of half-time, France landed sizeable blows, scoring their second and third tries to initially regain the lead and then start to build a bigger one.
Lino Julien bundled over just two minutes after Devine’s score to change the respective team talks and the French momentum was compounded further through a yellow card to Paddy McCarthy and a subsequent try just one minute into the second half from Pierre Jouvin.
Les Bleuets then ran away with the game and there is no doubt that period of the match was hugely important in them coming away with the win.
Sublime kicking
Hugo Reus was simply extraordinary against England in the semi-final with the boot and against Ireland he was almost exactly as faultless, missing one conversion from seven and nailing a penalty too.
That, combined with quality game-managing kicks downfield from the fly-half and his partnership with fellow half-back Baptiste Jauneau saw France keep their foot on the throats of an Ireland side who had just got the better of them in both previous Under-20 Six Nations campaigns.
Reus’ fantastic goal-kicking certainly put France in the ascendency and the score always builds faster when tries are seven points and not five – something Ireland found out in Cape Town.
Brilliant back row
Much of the focus on this France pack both pre- and during the tournament has been on second row Posolo Tuilagi but in this final the real point of difference was the sensational back row of Les Bleuets – captain Lenni Nouchi, openside Oscar Jegou and No.8 Marko Gazzotti.
Gazzotti’s third Player of the Match award saw him named Player of the Tournament and the 18-year-old was simply fantastic in the final but a word too must go to Nouchi, who scored one of the tries of the tournament, and Jegou who is another hugely bright spark for the future.
Ireland could not deal with the physicality of the trio both with and without ball and after parity for the opening half an hour, Les Bleuets asserted their dominance with a second half they could have only dreamt of, led by their dominant forward pack.
French ruthlessness does not allow for a comeback
With Ireland just stealing both Grand Slam deciders in recent campaigns thanks to last-gasp kicks, France will have wanted to pull away to prevent lightning striking for a third time.
It is unlikely even they could have pictured how far away from Ireland they would be when the final whistle went though, even with three scores in the final six minutes exaggerating the scoreline slightly.
Ireland, who have clearly shown in previous years that they have what it takes to overcome Les Bleuets, simply had no answer to the continued attacking game of France and were left unable to mount any sort of comeback, with the scoreline getting away from them.
