The Baby Blacks beat France 34-26 in the semifinal of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Italy yesterday.
They have reached the final for the first time since 2017 when they destroyed England 64-17 with a team containing future All Blacks Asafo Aumua, Luke Jacobson, Dalton Papali’i, Stephen Perofeta, Caleb Clarke, Braydon Ennor and Will Jordan.
Pledger and his fellow youngsters in black will hope to follow the same path.
They will have to get through South Africa, who beat Argentina 48-24 in the other semifinal yesterday. The final is on Sunday morning.
New Zealand made a dream start against France in the warmth of Viadana with a try after just 80 seconds.
After the French bobbled a kick, fullback Stanley Solomon — rumoured to be in the sights of the Highlanders — scooped, sprinted and scored.
A second try followed just seven minutes later when the Baby Blacks showed quick hands and winger Frank Vaenuku dished a delightful reverse pass to No 8 Mosese Bason.
As they tend to do, the French simply shrugged their shoulders at being 14-0 down so quickly, and they fired back with two tries in the space of two minutes, and had a third ruled out for a forward pass.
New Zealand missed plenty of tackles in the first half and struggled particularly with classy midfielder Fabien Brau-Boirie, who has already played 15 games in the Top 14 and trained with the senior team in the Six Nations.
There was another flurry of action at the end of the first half as the Baby Blacks created a sublime backline opportunity that led to a try to second five Jake Wiseman, before France scored well after the hooter to leave it 24-19 at the break.
The second half was initially tight, as a Rico Simpson penalty extended the New Zealanders’ lead, but then got a little chaotic.
Wiseman was shown a yellow card for a head-on-head clash and, while his side produced some magnificent goal-line defence, the French eventually broke through to make it 27-26.
When Vaenuku also saw yellow, the Baby Blacks were down to 13 men and things were looking grim.
Up stepped vice-captain Pledger, whose two years in the under-20 team have convinced many he has an exceptionally bright future.
The Otago No 9 threw an outrageous dummy right on the French line before setting up Aisake Vakasiuola for the match-sealing try.
It was sweet redemption for Pledger, Bason, Solomon, Simpson, Manumaua Letiu and Sika Pole, all of whom were in the New Zealand team beaten by France in the semifinals last year.
"We talked about this game being our final," Pledger said.
"I think the boys played it like a final out there and now we've got one more game to go."
It should be a humdinger, too.
The Baby Blacks beat the Baby Boks 48-45 earlier this year to seal the Rugby Championship title.
U20 World Champs
The scores
New Zealand 34
Stanley Solomon, Mosese Bason, Jake Wiseman, Aisake Vakasiuola tries; Rico Simpson 4 con, 2 pen
France 26
Kalvin Gourgues, Baptiste Britz, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Jon Echegaray tries; Luka Keletaona 2 con, Bobby Bissu con
Halftime: New Zealand 24-19.
