Ireland captain David Gannon's face elaborated eloquently on the physical nature of the IRB Under-21 World Cup final. Bruised and bloodied he tried to articulate just what it felt like to confront this superb New Zealand team.

"They are such a physically powerful side and the fact that they had the ball for long periods drained the legs. We felt fresh going into the game but they're a powerful side and you do get tired, not being able to cover the ground. They targeted our lineout and managed to get a few balls and this made it difficult to get a platform.

"In the first half when we did get into the 'green zone' as we call it, the scoring zone, we came away with points all three times. Unfortunately we just couldn't get down there often enough. We were up for it coming out in the second half but gave away a stupid penalty nearly straight away.

"Our emotions spilled over towards the end and we were losing our heads a little bit and had to cool it down but we finished the match on a high playing the type of rugby that we have tried to play throughout the tournament."

Ireland coach Mark McDermott outlined how proud he was of his squad, conceding that New Zealand were simply too good.

"They starved us of possession and we had to spend a lot of time defending. They took the ball up powerfully and then put pace and width on the game. They are an outstanding side.

"We knew coming into the game that we had to defeat the defending champions and a side that has been consistently the strongest in this competition. We were physically drained and throughout this competition haven't had the luxury of rotating the squad.

"I'm exceptionally proud of this bunch of players. No one knew these young players before they came to the tournament but they do now and that can only be good for Irish rugby. During the Six Nations Championship we thought we might have six to eight players who could go on and play international rugby.

"This tournament has shown there are more who can go into the professional system with the provinces. This tournament is critical for player development, the shop window for future provincial and international players. They get to face some of the best young players in the world game.

"We did our homework and targeted areas in which we would have liked to take on the New Zealanders but there isn't a great deal you can do when the opposition have 95 per cent of the possession, particularly in the first half."

The one aspect of the game in which he was disappointed was the lineout. It has been largely outstanding throughout the competition but on the day New Zealand targeted this area; the only time they didn't compete was in their own 22 and Ireland scored two tries.

McDermott paid tribute to the support as well he might for in a crowd of 5,623 more than half wore the green of Ireland. It's been a superb tournament from an Irish perspective; wins over Tonga, Argentina, France and Australia. New Zealand are just that little bit special.

South Africa finished third after a convincing 44-10 win over Australia, while England finished fifth by beating Wales in a hard-fought game which featured a great deal of stoppage-time.

Flanker Tom Rees scored in just 32 seconds to send England on their way to a 26-19 win while seventh place was taken by Argentina, who beat France 42-33.

Tonga finished last after being beaten by 44-39 by Russia.