Final defeat for Bristol Rugby's Eves and England

New Zealand Under-20s 44 England Under-20s 28: England, with Bristol Rugby's Luke Eves in the side, came up short against New Zealand in the final of the IRB Toshiba World Junior Championship, losing 44-28 in Tokyo.

Despite a strong start, England's Under-20s could not live with the pace and handling of the All Blacks, who might have won by a bigger margin.

It was against the run of play that Tom Homer kicked England into an early 6-0 lead with a pair of penalties.

Robbie Robinson responded with a try for New Zealand, but England restored their six-point advantage when James Gaskell was awarded a try despite appearing to drop the ball short of the line.

The All Blacks then stunned England with three tries in the space of five minutes before the half-hour mark.

Zac Guildford got the first and New Zealand then went ahead for the first time through an Aaron Cruden penalty.

Cruden then went over twice in quick succession, but he missed all three conversion attempts and Homer was able to cut the deficit to 11 points at 25-14 with another penalty five minutes before half-time.

Any hopes of an England fightback were hit early in the second half, though, as Shaun Treeby was able to run in unopposed, and Cruden's conversion made it 32-14.

A video review then confirmed that Carl Fearns had forced the ball over for an England try and Homer cut the gap back to 11 points with the conversion.

But Guildford's second try of the afternoon just after the hour mark effectively settled matters as New Zealand moved 16 points clear with less than 20 minutes left to play.

Even with the All Blacks down to 14 men after Latu Talakai was sent to the sin-bin, Brayden Mitchell put the icing on the cake with another try nine minutes from time, rendering David Lewis' late try nothing more than consolation for England.

England coach Mark Mapletoft said: "We were beaten by a better team.

"Overall it was closer than last year and we've certainly made strides in some aspects. To score 28 points was obviously a positive, but it was equally disappointing to concede seven tries."

Mapletoft admitted that New Zealand were "too clinical", adding: "When we gave them cheap yards and a sniff of the line, they were over.

"Overall I'd have to say the score was a fair reflection of the two teams but on the plus side, we could have capitulated but didn't.

"I have to give the boys credit for sticking at it but as hard as we worked we couldn't quite close the gap."