The IRB Junior World Championship reaches its climax this Sunday when favourites New Zealand play England in the final of a tournament that has showcased many of the future stars of rugby union.

The Baby Blacks, who won last year's incarnation of this tournament - the U-19 competition in Belfast, overwhelmed host nation Wales 31-6 in the semi-final to impress their credentials as the best team on display.

They sustained an impressive run through to the knock-out phase, racking up 173 points and conceding only 19 in pool games against Tonga, Argentina and Ireland.

New Zealand co-coach Dave Rennie said the semi-final win over Wales was an excellent result in trying wet and windy conditions.

"Our ball security wasn't flash in the first half and, because of that, we couldn't apply pressure," Rennie said.

"But we worked hard playing into the wind in the first half and that paid off in the second."

England overcame Australia, Canada and Fiji to set up a last-four clash with South Africa, which they won 26-18 in injury-time.

England scrum-half Joe Simpson, named man-of-the-match in the win over the Baby Boks, said: "It's amazing to reach the final. We thought we could do it throughout the tournament.

"I'm chomping at the bit to get to New Zealand. I've been looking forward to playing them all tournament. They're always going to be the favourites and we've just got to pull our socks up again and dig in one more time and hopefully we can do it.

"We'll be looking at their videos, we'll be looking at how they play, but we'll just be concentrating on ourselves, getting fit again, getting hydrated, getting everything prepared and hopefully we can do another one."

But Grand Slam winners England are unbeaten all season, and fullback Alex Tait, whose brother Mathew plays at No.15 for the full England side against New Zealand in Christchurch on Saturday, predicted a tough game.

"It would be fantastic if we can round everything off unbeaten and be world champions, but to do that we have to beat probably the toughest side in the tournament," Tait said.

"We will need to raise our game another level, but I'm confident we can do that.

"We just have to prepare properly, not let the pressure get to us and do what we know we can."

Sunday's match will take place at Swansea's Liberty Stadium, home of the Ospreys, with the ground also staging the third place play-off between Wales and South Africa a couple of hours before the main event kicks-off at 1800GMT.

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