Last updated 10:25, June 8 2018
Baby Blacks into last four of Rugby World Championship after beating Australia 27-18.
New Zealand held off a determined Australia to move into the semifinals of the world under-20 rugby championships in France.
New Zealand, seeking a seventh title, showed their composure to record a 27-18 victory at Perpignan on Friday (NZT) in their final pool match.
This was a real tussle for New Zealand after earlier cruising through their pool matches against Japan (67-0) and Wales (42-10).
New Zealand loose forward Devan Flanders on the charge in their under-20 world championship rugby win over Australia in Perpignan.
New Zealand will now play France in their semifinal next Wednesday (NZT) while England and South Africa meet in the other semifnal.
With Australia having been upset 26-21 by Wales in their opening pool match, they are left as also-rans, playing off against Italy for fifth place.
New Zealand had beaten Australia 43-28 on the Gold Coast last month to win the Oceania title.
But Australia were an improved outfit for this big occasion as they dominated possession and territory for long periods of the match.
Importantly, New Zealand started strongly and then rallied to dominate the last phase of an absorbing match, even managing to survive the contest despite having two players sin-binned.
The win saw them top their pool and the seedings for the playoffs.
New Zealand captain Tom Christie was thrilled with the way his team held firm to see off their trans-Tasman rivals.
"What a game. Any time we get to play the Aussies it's like playing your big brother and no one wants to loe, no one wants to give an inch so that was the exact feeling out there. It just just like big brother versus little brother at home," Christie said.
"It was an amazing feeling out there. A lot of hard work went into that. It' a credit to the Aussies, they put up a hell of a fight.
"They put real good territorial pressure on us but once we could start to control that territory, it started working for us. But it went both ways and that's why the match was so interesting."
Christie relished the challenge of the semifinal against what will be a fired-up French side.
"We're playing against the hosts ... what more motivation do you need than that? My boys will get up but I'm sure France will come at us firing. We look forward to it and we'll rise to the challenge."
New Zealand had a try to Christie disallowed in just the second minute but struck from the subsequent scrum when first five Harry Plummer slipped the Australian defence.
New Zealand No 8 Devan Flanders showed his pace with a 70m intercept to give New Zealand a 14-3 lead.
But that only masked the territorial advantage the Australians were asserting.
They got reward with a well-worked blindside move to have Fraser McReight score. And just before halftime the dominant Australian scrum earned a penalty try that also saw New Zealand tighthead prop Tevita Mafile'o sin-binned.
The teams went into the sheds for the break with the Kiwis ahead 17-15 and the tight nature continued as they traded penalties soon after the restart.
It wasn't until the 63rd minute when New Zealand got some breathing space, striking from deep off a quick lineout and some quick hands that gave wing Jamie Spowart the space for the crucial try.
Australia desperately pushed for late points and Kiwi ace Christie was yellow-carded for a tackle infringement with just three minutes left.
But New Zealand hung tough.
In other results in the last pool matches Wales edged Japan 18-17, Georgia upset Ireland 24-20, Italy got past Argentina 30-26, England thumped Scotland 35-10 and France blitzed South Africa 46-29.
New Zealand 27: Harry Plummer, Devan Flanders, Jamie Spowart tries, Plummer 3 con, 2 pen
Australia 18: Fraser McReight try; penalty try; Isaac Lucas 2 pen. HT: 17-15