New Zealand will face England in Monday's World Rugby Under 20 Championship final in Georgia after the proverbial game of two halves in the semifinal.
They defeated France 39-26 after leading 29-0 at the break and then 36-0 after 45 minutes. What followed in the next 20 minutes was eerily similar to the infamous Rugby World Cup semifinal at Twickenham in which France uncorked 25 minutes of the most unbelievable rugby. But on that occasion France won. Here, under the lights in Tbilisi, the French were coming from too far back.
New Zealand opened at full throttle, perhaps stung into action by a French standoff at the haka. Nice interplay by backs and forwards saw fullback Will Jordan cross after seven minutes. Lock Samuel Slade was the lineout target and New Zealand were mixing their game up nicely, marshalled by No 10 Tiaan Falcon, who had a good night out, scoring a try and slotting six from seven for a 19-point haul. His reverse pass which led to Caleb Clarke's try was sheer poetry. The wings were used effectively off lineouts.
France No 7 Baptiste Pesenti, who later scored a try, was lucky to be shown only a yellow card for kicking out at Slade in a maul.
Flanker Dalton Papali'i burst through a ruck and reached out to score, while the TMO ruled out possible tries to Jordan and dynamo hooker Asafo Aumua. The latter's second stanza try gave New Zealand a 36-0 buffer, after which the game underwent a transformation. New Zealand, emptying their bench, got loose, falling off tackles, while the passes started to stick for France, who rattled on four tries in 20 minutes, two from lineouts and an 80m breakout which led to Pesenti's try. Alarm bells started to ring when France right wing Lucas Tauzin scored a sublime try from a chip and regather to bring it to 36-26 with 10 to play.
But New Zealand tightened up sufficiently to deny France their first appearance in a final.
Captain Luke Jacobson offered some explanation for the second spell.
"It got a bit shaky in that second half. The boys got a bit complacent. But it's semifinal footy and we will take a lot from that. I'm sure it's going to be a great final against England," he says.
England edged South Africa 24-22 in the early semifinal.
The final will kick off at 2am on Monday (NZT).
New Zealand Under 20s 39 (Will Jordan, Tiaan Falcon, Dalton Papali'i, Caleb Clarke, Asafo Aumua tries; Falcon 4 con, 2 pen) France Under 20s 26 (Baptiste Couilloud, Baptiste Pesenti, Peato Mauvaka, Lucas Tauzin tries; Alex Arrate 3 con) HT: 29-0
