New Zealand win fifth world Under-20 title
Cremona (Italy) (AFP) - New Zealand's "Baby Blacks" won the world Under-20 title for the fifth time on Saturday with a 21-16 victory over defending champions England.
It was New Zealand's first triumph since 2011 after they had captured the first four editions from 2008 onwards.
England, the double defending champions, had led 7-0 at one stage after centre Max Clark scored what turned out to be his side's only try of the game.
Replacement centre Vincent Tavae-Aso helped pull the New Zealanders back into the final with his team's first try as they went on to carve out a narrow 11-10 lead at the interval.
Powerful No8 Akira Ioane grabbed his team's second try before he was sin-binned and in a dramatic finale England had a try ruled out when Piers O'Connor was judged to be offside.
South Africa's "Baby Boks" took third place with a four-try, 31-18 win over France.
All of the team's tries came in the first half through Thomas Du Toit (15th minute), Jason Jenkins (28th) and Dan Duprez (33rd and 39th) as South Africa led 28-8 at half-time.
“We showed good composure to score those tries in the first half after France had led 8-0," said South Africa coach Dawie Theron.