England Retain the Junior World Cup

The England U20s retained their Junior Rugby World Cup title after fending off a ferocious second half onslaught from the 2012 champions South Africa in Auckland, to emerge 21-20 winners.

Under the lights at Eden Park, one of New Zealand’s premier rugby venues, some of the most promising junior talent fought it out for the most prestigious prize in world rugby.

Looking to defend their crown against the 2012 winners, the stage was set for a titanic clash on the sub-continent.

The Baby Boks took an early lead through a Jesse Kriel converted try; however, standout English flyer Nathan Earls helped make the score 11-10 at the break to the defending Champs.

Ten minutes into the second half England made their move and crossed the line from the back of a maul through Joel Conlon, with Billy Burns converting to give England an eight-point lead.

Kriel scored his second, Handre Pollard converting, with ten minutes left on the clock but England held out, just about, after a ferocious onslaught.

Last year’s 23-15 victory over Wales in the final, with an England squad that featured the likes of full England squad men Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson, made the red rose men the team to beat throughout the entire tournament.

With a victory over another home nation, Ireland, in this year’s semi-final they met the Baby Boks in this morning’s showpiece game in Auckland.

They set out to play with ambition from the first whistle but handling errors stalled their momentum. Both sides exchanged penalties to bring the score to 3-3, before an error finally cost England, with South Africa pouncing onto a dropped pass.

Pollard secured the ball for the Baby Boks and threaded an inch-perfect chip through to the on running Kriel to score.

A further conversion from Pollard made the scores 10-3 before the defending champs woke up and began to fight back.

An incredible penalty from Aaron Morris, well within his own half, sailed through the posts to slash the deficit to just four, with just four minutes left before the break for England to take the lead and the momentum.

The chance came before the half as many thought it would, with Nick Tompkins bursting through the heart of the South African defence, taking England to within a metre. A crisp pass found the prolific Earls who managed to dance his way around Sergeal Petersen to score.

Burns was just unable to convert from wide out but England, despite an error-ridden display and a totally malfunctioning line-out, led 11-10 at the break.

A further two penalties were exchanged after half time, with the teams looking to be at an exact stalemate. However, the break finally came from England with back-rower Conlon collapsing over the line from the back of a maul to score England’s second try.

This time Burns was good with the boot and extended the lead to what proved to be a vital two-score margin. A penalty was missed from Burns as the Baby boks then turned up the heat and stormed back at England.

In the dying last 15 minutes of the game the Boks were fantastic, making their way deeper and deeper into the English half, with a real onslaught of the red rose try line. Kriel finished off another fantastic move from the South African backline to bring the score within one; however, heroic defence from the English meant the Junior World Cup trophy was retained for another year, as Saracens forward Maro Itoje signified a victorious England down under.

Gloucester fly-half Billy Burns, who slotted over two penalties and a conversion for England, told Sky Sports 1: "Absolutely buzzing. Obviously that last 20 minutes was real nail-biting and to get through it is a massive achievement and full credit to the boys, we deserved that.

"We've worked hard all campaign, it's been tough but to come through and win something like that at the end of it just shows how hard we've worked, so it's real satisfying."