The New Zealand team celebrate at the end of the Rugby Junior World Championship final match against England at Cremona's Zini stadium. (AP Photo/Marco Vasini)
The New Zealand team celebrate at the end of the Rugby Junior World Championship final match against England at Cremona's Zini stadium. (AP Photo/Marco Vasini)
New Zealand have raised their fifth World Rugby Under 20 Championship title after edging England 21-16 in the final in Cremona.
It sparked a proud haka by the New Zealand team and another breakdancing routine by coach Scott Robertson, last seen after he guided Canterbury to the 2013 ITM Cup.
The rugby was typical for a final, staunch defence met by tireless efforts to break down those systems, but New Zealand may well have lost it after another appallingly bad intervention by a match official led to the sinbinning of No 8 Akira Ioane in the second spell.
Upon the recommendation of assistant referee Ben Whitehouse of Wales, Ioane was yellow carded for a no-arms tackle. There was just one problem: he used his arms. A quick check with the TMO, which has often been the default option with referees in this tournament, would have shown this. That option was not used.
New Zealand coach Scott Robertson, center, celebrates with his players at the end of the Rugby Junior World Championship final match against England at Cremona's Zini stadium
England started with fire and brimstone in the pack, and after just three minutes, second five Max Clark ran a good angle to beat lock Josh Goodhue and open the scoring. New Zealand were copping penalties and throwing the ball away in contact. They lost No 12 TJ Faiane to a knee injury and were down 10-3 until a slice of Vince Aso magic. The Aucklander had endured a mixed tournament, but he made an immediate impact as replacement for Faiane. There looked to be nothing on, but Aso made a 35m solo dart to score in the corner.
At 11-10 by halftime, New Zealand looked to be slowly gaining the upper hand. They weren't contesting the England lineout drive, and that paid dividends when they won a penalty.
Explosive wing Tevita Li who, along with Ioane, was shortlisted for World Rugby junior player of the year, was well bottled up by the England defence, and Ioane himself could make little headway around the fringes, but he did plough over from short range after halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi spurned a shot at goal with a quick tap. 18-10, and then came the Ioane intervention. The No 9's commitment was highlighted with a spectacular catch-dive to snuff out an England attacking foray.
The Ioane incident allowed England back into the contest and they would have scored if Piers O'Connor had not been in front of the kicker after a messy sequence of play.
Otere Black kicked his third penalty at the 58 minute mark and then New Zealand hung on grimly, tackling resolutely and forcing England into rare errors.
"It was very physical. Big ups to the boys. They came out and executed what we needed," said captain Atu Moli, one of seven in the match-day squad of 23 who took sweet revenge after the disappointment of the 2014 campaign.
Robertson, just before he pulled out his dance moves, was beaming: "We won a tight game. There's really good character and culture in this group."
This was New Zealand's first junior world title since the class of 2011, captained by Luke Whitelock and coached by Mark Anscombe, beat England 33-22 in the decider in the Italian city of Padova.
New Zealand 21 (Vince Aso, Akira Ioane tries; Otere Black con, 3 pen) England 16 (Max Clark try; Rory Jennings con, 3 pen) Halftime: 11-10 New Zealand
