Wales will go into next week’s capped international against England on Sunday at Worcester much encouraged by a decisive and very competent six tries to one victory over a surprisingly docile French side.
France did not have a full strength squad for this non capped game at Eugene Cross Park but Wales were easy winners over a side that was strangely out-muscled at both the scrum and in the loose.
A multitude of players were thrown on over an interval of three periods and if the result of such a trial game should not be taken too literally, Wales Coaches Simon King and Nicky Lloyd will take comfort from a number of areas.
They were particularly strong in the contact area thanks to the aggression and power of their loose forwards amongst whom David Francis (Exiles) and James Thomas (Dragons) were outstanding.
Wales also made better use of the ball behind the scrum, prompted by two excellent scrum halves in Rhys Downes (Blues) and Gareth Davies (Scarlets) and the Ospreys midfield trio of Matthew Jarvis, Kristian Phillips and Ashley Beck were very fluent and forceful runners.
The 6′ 3″ tall Beck who has already played a number of games for Premiership club Aberavon was particularly impressive and scored two tries with a nice blend of speed and power, his second from all of 60 metres against a French side that showed little in either invention or combativeness.
All the Welsh tries came from the three-quarters: Beck and Dragons wing Ieuan Coombes both got a brace of tries and others came from Phillips and Ospreys wing Liam Powell.
The sole reply from a very disappointing French side was an early try from Toulon fullback Sonny Falconetti, converted by fly half Jon Quinnez (Grenoble).
Wales Team Manager Terry Cobner was delighted with the team’s performance. “There was huge improvement in all areas after the disappointment of losing to England in a trial match a month ago and the squad is ready to do itself full justice next Sunday,” he said.
Scorers
Wales U18
Tries: I Coombes (2), A Beck (2), L Powell, K Phillips
Cons: M Jarvis (2)
Pen: M Jarvis
France U18
Try: S Falconetti
Con: J Quinnez
