New Zealand have been dumped out of the Under-20 Rugby World Cup after going down 25-17 to South Africa in their final pool match.
The Baby Blacks were facing a tough task falling behind 19-3 at halftime after South Africa managed to score two tries.
However, a comeback looked on when the Baby Blacks' Kaylum Boshier was awarded a penalty try early in the second half with James Molentze yellow-carded for stopping the try illegally initially.
The Kiwi side couldn't capitalise though, failing to score again until the 74th minute when Lalomilo Lalomilo went over.
To make matters worse, Molentze's sin-binning was the third of the match for South Africa. They had two players sent off in the first half in the 20th and 33rd minutes but the most the Baby Blacks could muster was one penalty.
New Zealand needed just a bonus point in Rosario, Argentina, to advance to the semi-finals, but an error-ridden performance meant they couldn't achieve that.
They will now play Wales in the battle for fifth to eighth place.
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