New Zealand U20: 38 England U20: 3

The New Zealand “Baby Blacks” were crowned the inaugural IRB junior world champions after an emphatic win over England in Swansea last night. The New Zealand Under-20 team proved worthy of their pre-tournament tag of favourites and although England stayed within sight of them at the interval, in the second half they asserted their dominance.

New Zealand took an early lead with a 30-metre penalty goal from Trent Renata, the full back, and while England had a chance to take the lead soon after, Alex Goode, the fly half, squandered two easily kickable penalties. New Zealand extended their lead after 16 minutes with the first of their four tries when Kade Poki, the right wing, darted over, Renata converting.

England hit back with a Goode penalty after 25 minutes, but it would be their only points in a match that was a step farther than previous England junior sides had ventured and came close to capping off an outstanding season for Nigel Redman's side, who were unbeaten all season and grand-slam champions.

After leading by ten points at half-time, the victory was sealed for New Zealand when they went over for their second try midway through the second half when swift rucking and slick passing resulted in Jackson Willison crossing over on the left.

An otherwise incident-free match was marred in the final ten minutes with a yellow card and a sending-off. Aaron Smith, New Zealand’s replacement scrum half, was the first off the field for a yellow card offence when tempers flared after a strong run through midfield by England centre Jordan Turner-Hall, the England centre. England kicked to touch within five metres of the New Zealand line from the resulting penalty. Peter Fitz-gibbon, the referee, then showed the red card to Calum Clark, the England flanker, for striking an opponent near the line following the throw-in.

Andre Taylor crossed for New Zealand's third try after he had collected a kick through, but it needed the television match official to judge that he had grounded the ball properly. Daniel Kirkpatrick added the conversion and Ryan Crotty crossed for New Zealand's fourth try to complete the rout.

Earlier, South Africa claimed third place in the championship after they comprehensively defeated Wales, the hosts, 43-18 scoring seven tries in the process.