England U19 followed their 37-13 win against Scotland U19 two weeks ago with a 26-20 defeat to France U19 at the Stade d'Honneur Marcel Roustant stadium in Salon de Provence this afternoon.

France took an early lead with converted tries in the ninth and fourteenth minutes before England got on the scoreboard courtesy of a Tom Dawes (Colston's Collegiate School & Bath) try converted by Ryan Lamb (St. Peters High School & Gloucester) just before the half hour. England then added a penalty from Lamb two minutes before the break to close the first half only four points behind the home side.

France, however, extended their lead with a try three minutes after the re-start only to see their advantage reduced to six points when Lamb added another penalty on the hour. A minute later and with the game finely balanced, France scored what proved to be the decisive points with a converted try. England rallied again when Ryan Lamb converted Matthew Cooks' try (Woodhouse Grove & Bradford Bulls)  two minutes from the end to underline a fighting performance played in very difficult conditions.  

England U19 coach Tosh Askew said: "France took advantage of some lapses in concentration by England at the start of each half and we were then always chasing the game. Tom Dawes, capped off a fantastic build up with a superb individual finish to score his try in the first half.

"However, we weren't able to play the game we wanted to because the French were far more physical than our players, which denied us the ball that we needed to play our game. We'll now be trying some different players in our next match against Italy, in an effort to widen our squad in, with the IRB World Championships in mind." 

England U19 face Italy U19 in their next game on February 14th in Cosenza (kick off 12pm*). The IRB U19 World Championship begins in March in Durban, South Africa. England have drawn Georgia, Australia and Ireland in their group

Conditions: Greasy pitch, cold light winds.

Attendance: 2,000