Better prep boosts Baby Blacks

The New Zealand Under-20 rugby team is determined to end a threeyear trophy drought and win the world championships at the scene of their last success.

Starting their 2015 World Rugby Under-20 Championship campaign against Scotland in Parma, Italy, on Wednesday morning (NZ time), a better build-up could be key this year.

In 2014 on home soil, New Zealand had little to no build-up to the world championships, and ended up suffering two defeats at the hands of eventual runners-up South Africa.

This year the New Zealand side has had plenty of game time, winning the Oceania under-20 championships, and had a warm-up match against the Chiefs development side before leaving for Italy.

Having won all of those matches, the New Zealand squad is high on confidence, although they know they have a tough task when it comes to playing past champions England and South Africa.

Size has been a major factor over the past three years, with both the English and South African packs towering over the New Zealand forwards, but this year could be different.

‘‘The guys physically are in better condition than we have been, size wise, strength wise, and we’ve put a lot of technical focus into [the set piece] with Jase Ryan as scrum coach along with Mike Cron,’’ coach Scott Robertson said.

‘‘We’ve done a lot of work on the guys having the clarity of how to to deal with that pressure, and more importantly, not just the skill execution but the decision-making in it as well.

‘‘We’re working on having, almost that Victor Matfield mindset of being really dominant and owning the lineout. They’re big boys, units, do the simple things well and have big men lifting them.’’

No player in that pack has placed more pressure on himself than captain Atu Moli.

Moli and the New Zealand forwards struggled last year in Auckland with the size and strength of opposing forward packs, and this year Moli is convinced his side can turn it around. He will lead by example, putting his body on the line for the cause.

‘‘Those northern hemisphere teams, they’ve got some pretty big boys and they’ve played together for a long time now,’’ Moli said. ‘‘For us, going into that Oceania tournament has been good for building blocks, and we didn’t have that last year. This year we’re one step ahead.

‘‘The level of understanding from the boys is way better than last year.’’

Despite fielding a strong team in Italy, there will be a case of ‘‘what if’’ with several classy players having to watch from their couch in New Zealand.

Chiefs duo Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown are eligible for the under-20s in 2015 but have had to remain with their Super Rugby franchise.

McKenzie would have been a potential young player of the year if he had been available for New Zealand, while Lienert-Brown has taken his own play to another level in 2015.

Another question mark remains over the first-five position with Hurricanes pivot Otere Black yet to board a plane to Italy.

With Beauden Barrett out injured, Black started the past two weeks for the table-topping Canes, and should Barrett not recover Black may miss the tournament. Even if he does head to Italy, he’s certain to sit out the first match against Scotland on Wednesday morning.

After the 6.30am clash against Scotland on Wednesday, New Zealand plays Argentina at 4.30am Sunday, and Ireland at 6.30am on Thursday, June 11.