Dominant first half performance allow New Zealand reach U20 final

New Zealand U20 39-26 France U20, Mikheil Meskhi Stadium
Scorecard

New Zealand scored four tries in the first half as they completed a 39-26 win over France in the U20 Championship 2017 semi-final at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium on Tuesday.

Baby Blacks will now face England in the final at the same venue on Sunday which will also be the second such encounter for both the teams in three years after they previously met in 2015 edition in Italy.

Fly-half Tiaan Falcon looked in good touch as he kicked an early penalty and also contributed a try and three conversions in the first half.

Will Jordan (6'), Dalton Papali'i (23') and Caleb Clarke (33') were the other try scorers for New Zealand as they raced to a 29-0 point lead at half time. France also suffered a setback in the 29th minute when Baptiste Pesenti was sin-binned.

After Asafo Aumua's try at the start of the second half, New Zealand had score 36 unanswered points and looked favourites to win the game but France had other plans.

In a span of 28 minutes, Baptiste Couilloud (49'), Baptiste Pesenti (51'), Peato Mauvaka (63') and Lucas Tauzin (69') all scored tries with Alex Arrate adding conversions on three occasions to bring down the gap to 10 points.

As the game headed for final 10 minutes, New Zealand held their nerve and Falcon's 77th minute try ensured a 13 point win for the five-time title winners.