England’s tries came from Wasps wing Christian Wade (2) and Sale Sharks prop Henry Thomas. Leicester Tigers fly-half George Ford kicked the other seven points.
The fist half-hour was dominated by England, taking the lead with just six minutes gone. A run by Owen Farrell created space for Wade out wide on the left and he beat the last defender to score, with Ford adding the extras.
Gareth Anscombe kicked the first Kiwi points and then Charles Piutau scored in the corner.
After an exchange of penalties, a second New Zealand try came just before half-time as prop Ben Tameifuna forced his way over the try line. Anscombe’s conversion made the score 20-10 at half-time.
An Anscombe stretched the lead to 23-10 but, just when New Zealand threatened to run away with the game, England began to dominate possession and eventually turned pressure into points when Thomas barged his way over. Ford’s kick made the score 23-17.
Flanker Matt Kvesic was then denied by the TV match official as he dived under the posts but a third try came on the hour through Wade, who kicked through to score after some excellent work by Elliott Daly. Ford’s conversion would have given England the lead, but his kick went wide, leaving his side one point behind at 23-22.
A New Zealand penalty from Anscombe then made the score 26-22 and in the final 10 minutes full-back Beauden Barrett touched down to make the score 33-22 as New Zealand held out to win their fourth successive Junior World Championship.
“We’re gutted, the lads gave it everything but a few things didn’t go our way at crucial times and we have to live with that," he said.
“We played well on the day, but they won and they’re champions – it's as simple as that.
“The lads have taken so much from the tournament though, and there’s no doubt that we’ll come out better players because of it. A lot of this squad are moving on, but it’s been awesome playing with them over the past few years.
“The likes of Alex Gray and Mako Vunipola has been the heartbeat of the team and we’ll miss them, but there are some very good players coming through so we’ll do our best to go one better and win it next year.”
England U20: 15 Ben Ransom (Saracens), 14 Andy Short (Worcester Warriors), 13Elliot Daly (London Wasps), 12 Owen Farrell (Saracens), 11 Christian Wade (London Wasps), 10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers), 9 Chris Cook (Bath Rugby); 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens), 2 Mikey Haywood (Northampton Saints), 3 Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), 4 Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), 5 Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), 6 Sam Jones (London Wasps), 7 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors), 8 Alex Gray (c) (Newcastle Falcons). Replacements:16 Rob Buchanan (Harlequins) for Haywood 73 min, 17 Will Collier (Harlequins) for Thomas 61 min, 18 Sam Twomey (Harlequins) for Kvesic 75 min, 19 Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers) for Jones 73, 20 Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby) for Cook 61min, 21 Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby) for Farrell 49 min, 22 Marland Yarde (London Irish) for Short 43 min
