New Zealand’s Under 20’s won their fourth successive IRB Junior World Championship title on Sunday as they saw off a valiant England effort to win the game 33-22 in Padova, Italy.
The much favoured Baby Blacks continued their dominance in the junior ranks, having now not lost a match since the tournament’s inception in 2008. They’ve now beaten England twice in finals, to add to their win over Australia last year.
England came out firing and at one stage looked as though they might have sprung an upset, but a try in the 74th minute by Beauden Barrett sealed the win for the New Zealand team, their 20th in succession.
England skipper Alex Gray was proud of the effort, but naturally disappointed. “We dug deep and fought back to within one point but they are a class act. They punish every mistake. I’m so proud of the boys yet so sad because it’s my last game for the Under-20s and I so believed we could end their reign,” he said.
Luke Whitelock, New Zealand’s captain and a winner in last year’s tournament, said that they were delighted with maintaining their 100% percent record. “This is awesome to keep the winning streak going, we have been working hard -bit is great to get the victory,” he said.
The below highlights are almost twenty minutes long, so kick back and enjoy if you missed the game. If you’re an England fan, are you proud of the boys or do you think that they could have kicked on and sprung the upset?
Time: 19:08
Sign In