Owen Delany Park in Taupo played host to another thrilling Super Rugby Pacific U20 tournament, where the Crusaders have gone back to back, beating the Chiefs in a golden point nail-biter on Saturday afternoon.
England flew out of South Africa last Saturday evening to Heathrow as the rightful champions, the consistency of their potent scrum and manipulative defence helping them to a deserved first title since 2016.
Former All Black hooker Hika Elliot has been named in the No. 16 jersey for Wellington in Saturday's NPC final vs Bay of Plenty.
The stage is set for both NPC semi-finals with Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato naming their teams.
The top 50 prospects under 23 years of age currently plying their trade in New Zealand features three capped All Blacks already.
England flew out of South Africa last Saturday evening to Heathrow as the rightful champions, the consistency of their potent scrum and manipulative defence helping them to a deserved first title since 2016.
The Baby Blacks had defeated France in a pool match in Stellenbosch 10 days earlier, Rico Simpson kicking an 80th-minute penalty to dramatically win that classic 27-26. However, the exchanges were very different at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.
The Baby Blacks came into the fixture at the Cape Town Stadium having beaten the French 27-26 just 10 days earlier in a pool match in Stellenbosch.
Beaten 26-27 by an 80th-minute Baby Blacks penalty in a July 4 pool match in Stellenbosch, the French only reached the last four as the tournament’s best runner-up across the three pools courtesy of last Tuesday’s victory over Wales.
New Zealand U20s and South Africa U20s played out the inaugural Rugby Championship U20 match in torrential rain as wet conditions dictated the type of game that would unfold.