Ireland U20 head coach Richie Murphy says squad will leave U20 World Championship as "mature young men" after reaching final

The French proved too strong as a display of attacking ruthlessness secured their third consecutive U20 crown with a comprehensive 50-14 victory over the young Irish.

Murphy’s side were only 17-14 behind in what was a competitive first-half as Fintan Gunne and John Devine crossed for Ireland with Sam Prendergast converting both in Cape Town, but the French produced an onslaught after the break, scoring four unanswered tries.

Ulster’s James McNabney started the game at flanker while provincial teammate Charlie Irvine was named amongst the replacements.

Joe Hopes and Rory Telfer, both from Queen’s University, were also included in the Ireland squad for the tournament.

"I told you last week that we were proud of them before we ever came to Cape Town, and they've built on that,” Murphy told Irish Rugby. "Over the course of the year, going back to October, they came in as boys and they'll leave here as very mature young men who have had an incredible experience together as a group.

"But also from a rugby point of view where they've been stretched on a regular basis and just keep coming back with answers.

"I'm extremely proud of Gus and the rest of the guys, they've been incredible to work with."

Ireland’s U20 side have won two Grand Slam titles and matched the performance of the 2016 Irish team that also reached the World Championship final before losing to England.

"(We were) outplayed, yeah,” reflected Murphy. “In fairness the French are very good, we knew that going in.

"We knew that we would have to be very accurate in order to get ourselves in the game.

"We started pretty well. Still, couple of big moments in game where we were very much in it, a couple of things went against us.

"The (Jouvin) try on 41 minutes is a killer. If you go back and have look at it, you'll see that someone joined maul from in front of the ball carrier, which should be a penalty to us.

"It should be an opportunity to get out of our end, but those moments in the game cause extra stress in your team. We weren't accurate enough ourselves though.

"Our lineout didn't function as well as it has done in the rest of the Championship which was a bit of a disappointment, but there are so many reasons for that.

"The French are a very good team, they put on a lot pressure in that area and they got the better of us there.

"It's disappointing to get into a final, you only ever want to win. We go home with a silver medal, which we are extremely proud about, but today is about the final.

"France are deserved winners, they played really good rugby and we weren't quite at the level."