New Zealand U20 break 9-year Junior World Championship England hoodoo

Finn McLeod scored two tries and was sin-binned as the Baby Blacks won their first meeting against England for nine years to claim third place in the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 with a 41-26 victory.

England, who never finished third in the competition, were beaten in the 2017 final by the same opposition and returned to the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium on a revenge mission which they could have got if Sam Winters hadn’t had two tries disallowed.

But McLeod turned the game in his side’s favour with two tries in as many minutes midway through the second half to give his side a lead that left England with too much of a mountain to climb.

England made a dream start when winger Winters shrugged off several tackles to cross under the posts after New Zealand knocked the kick-off to open the scoring in less than a minute, with Hugh Shields kicking the conversion.

But two minutes later, McLeod took the ball off the top of the line-out to set up a patient move that ended when Jake Frost forced his way over the line from close range, but Cohen Norrie missed the conversion.

England were intent on making life difficult for themselves and lost Nick Lilley to the sin-bin after 12 minutes for being caught offside for a second time in a minute, and luckily George Marsh got underneath Ollie Guerin to save a try as the Exeter man trudged off.

Both sides blew chances in a frantic end-to-end contest before the Baby Boks lost McLeod to the sin bin after 21 minutes following three offside penalties in four phases and almost immediately Jackson Hughan denied England hooker Staples with a last-ditch tackle.

And within four minutes, a man down, Frost crashed over after England were forced to desperately defend their line and despite Norrie missing his second conversion, the lead changed hands for the first time.
England retook the lead after 29 minutes when George Marsh supplied a brilliant pass over the top of the tackle to Staples up in the support to score, with Finn Keylock slotting over his conversion.

They almost extended their lead after 36 minutes when Winters hacked forward Haki Wiseman’s misplaced pass only to be denied by Norrie following a hotly contested foot race.

New Zealand flanker Jake Hutchings scored on his debut five minutes after the break after England were penalised for collapsing the scrum and they failed to stop him from mauling over the line from a well-worked line-out.

But two minutes later Staples grabbed his second try after the Baby Blacks failed to stop England’s forwards in a powerful driving maul, with Keylock adding a third conversion.

England could not keep their foothold with Norrie casting a spell with some wizardry from a standing start, ripping through England’s defence before passing to Siale Pahulu to score, with Logan Williams converting to give the Kiwis a one-point lead.

And after 56 minutes, George Pearson counter-attacked, with Lucas Friday providing the link for Winters to score, until it was adjudged that Sonny Tonga’uiha had blocked a defender to hand New Zealand another reprieve, and they took full advantage.

Seven minutes later McLeod made amends for his earlier yellow card by powering his way over the line, leaving Tonga’uiha grasping at air and in the 65th minute doubling his tally after placing the ball on the line, with Williams converting to open up a 13-point lead.

England gave themselves a chance of a fighting finish when in the 71st minute Shields’ pinpoint kick picked out Tyler Offiah hanging in the air before squeezing the ball down.

But Max Fale put the result beyond doubt, adding his name to the scorers in the 79th minute, with Williams adding his third conversion to put the seal on the win.