All-Conquering Juniors

The New Zealand under-20 rugby team “are accustomed to chewing up all before them” and chew they did, winning the Junior World Cup final, beating England 22-33 in the final in Padova, Italy. The New Zealand side’s first three Junior World Cups would be better described as search-and-destroy missions than tournaments. Nobody had even come close. England, to their enormous credit, did. England coach Rob Hunter said of the win: “New Zealand were really strong at the breakdown. We seemed to take a little bit of time to deal with some of the interpretations there and they were very physical in that area and at times that just let them off the hook. We couldn’t keep the pressure on because they kept winning some of the small battles.” New Zealand five-eighth Aucklander Gareth Anscombe was named Man of the Match.