Otere Black kicked 11 points as New Zealand beat England 21-16 in the World Rugby U20 Championship final.
New Zealand fought back from 10-3 down to be crowned champions for the fifth time since the inception of the tournament in 2008 and deny England a third successive title.
England outside centre Max Clark sliced through the New Zealand defence early in the match for a converted try, while flyhalves Rory Jennings and Black traded penalties as the Baby Blacks trailed by seven.
Vincent Tavae-Aso, an injury-enforced replacement, then scored a try with his first touch of the match when he spun out the tackles of three English defenders and out-paced the cover defender to narrow the deficit to two, before Black nailed a penalty goal close to the break to put New Zealand a point ahead.
Their lead was extended at the resumption when Blues loose forward Akira Ioane powered over from close range, before he was yellow-carded for foul play. Jennings added two penalty kicks to England's tally in Ioane's absence, closing the gap to 18-16.
But Black restored their five-point advantage with his third penalty, which England were unable to overturn.
England camped inside New Zealand territory during the latter stages of the match, but stonewall defence by the Kiwis kept them out.
New Zealand U20 – Tries: Vincent Tavae-Aso, Akira Ioane. Conversion: Otere Black. Penalties: Black (3).
England U20 – Try: Max Clark. Conversion: Rory Jennings. Penalties: Jennings (3).
New Zealand U20 – 15 Mitchell Hunt, 14 Jack Goodhue, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Otere Black, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Mitchell Dunshea, 5 Hamish Dalzell, 4 Joshua Goodhue, 3 Atunaisa Moli (c), 2 Liam Polwart, 1 Ricky Riccitelli.
Subs: 16 Steven Misa, 17 Isileli Tu'ungafasi, 18 Tau Koloamatangi, 19 Mitchell Jacobson, 20 Henry Stowers, 21 Harrison Levien, 22 Vincent Tavae-Aso, 23 George Bridge.
England U20 – 15 Aaron Morris, 14 George Perkins, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Max Clark, 11 Howard Packman, 10 Rory Jennings, 9 James Mitchell, 8 James Chisholm, 7 Will Owen, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 4 Will Witty, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Ellis Genge.
Subs: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Sebastian Adeniran-Olule, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Sam Skinner, 21 Will Homer, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Piers O’Conor.
Photo: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images
