SCOTLAND U/18 VS FRANCE U/19
PEEBLES, 03/03/02.

Scotland 4 - 48 France

some piccies here!

The foul weather conditions remained undesirable throughout the match but this did not affect the high points tally. The Scots were faced with a gruelling battle after the French scored their first try in the opening minutes. Cedric Duzant grounded the ball in the right hand corner after a series of passes out wide stretching the Scottish defence. The conversion was missed to leave the score at 4-0 after 4 minutes of play.

Within five minutes Duzant, had scored his second try after receiving a ball out wide which again stretched Scotland's line of defence. However, the conversion was subsequently missed.  Gregory Tiquet boosted the score-line for the French with an individual try after twenty minutes. Tiquet danced through the Scotland defence to make the try. Christophe Arasa successfully converted bringing the score line to a comfortable 14-0 to the French after 20 minutes.

Scotland valiantly fought on, halting a series of French attempts, and was eventually rewarded with a try by the 16 year old Karl Higgins (Workington Town RLFC). The try had been formed by inventive play by Chris Fletcher who kicked ahead and collected his own kick, then passing the ball out to Higgins who stormed over for the try. The Scots failed to close the score line by a missed conversion from David Anderson.

The score at half time was a lead of 14-4 to the French.
The French came out hard in the second with an early try by Duzant, handing him his hat-trick. The conversion was made by Arasa, stretching the score line to 20-4. The barrage of attacks by the French continued with a further two tries scored in the following 10 minutes Gregory Tiquet stampeded through the
game line breaking Scottish tackles, to score between the posts. The conversion was made again by Arasa. Thomas Capet scored his first try shortly afterwards. However, Arasa failed to convert this try.

The subsequent 15 minutes saw the Scots fighting back, forcing the French deep into their own half. However, no points were gained as the Scots failed to finish off their chances.

The French found their form again with a further try from Teddy Sadaoui in the 69th minute. Olivier Elima, the Castleford professional, unselfishly handed Sadaoui the ball to score between the posts, after Elima had produced a jinking run down the right side. A successful conversion was followed from Arasa.

The French built on their confidence, quickly scoring a try from the full back Bastien Almarcha, which was also converted.  The Frenchmen finished on a high, with a try made in the final minute by Duzant, bringing his tally to four and winning him the man of the match.

Arasa produced a final conversion, leaving the French with a sound victory of 48-4.

The match had provided the newly formed Scotland squad with great international experience and the team were left encouraged after their solid performance against a very experience and gelled French side. The French were particularily impressed with Chris Fletcher who also captains Yorkshire and the Great Britain Under-18s side. It is hoped that the overall Scotland performance can lead to greater things for the team, and promote the sport which still remains relatively unknown within Scotland

[Source - Kate Cochrane, Scotland Students Media Officer]

The rest of the Tour takes the French to England and Wales.  The Itinerary:

Wednesday 6th March 2002 and the French took on the Emerging English team at Leigh Centurians RLFC ground.  The final score was Emerging England 10 - 18 France.

Friday 8^th March 2002 v BARLA GREAT BRITAIN YOUNG LIONS at Featherstone Rovers RLFC Kick Off: 7:45pm

Sunday 10^th March 2002 v WALES at Old Penarthians Rugby Football Club, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Kick Off: 2:30pm.