The New Zealand under-20s have been handed a brutal reality check at their Rugby World Cup after suffering a record loss to France.
Facing difficult wet conditions in South Africa, the Baby Blacks went down 35-14 with French lock Posolo Tuilagi proving to be a nightmare.
Tuilagi, making his first appearance at the tournament, scored twice in the big win as they handed New Zealand its biggest losing margin ever at the tournament. The previous mark was a 12-point loss to England during the semi-finals of the 2013 tournament.
Tuilagi is the nephew of England international Manu.
After pulling off an impressive comeback win over Wales to open their tournament, the Baby Blacks struggled to contain France's dominant forward pack in torrential rain in Paarl this morning.
It led to an early try for French winger Theo Attissogbe before Tuilagi doubled the French lead with his first try off a driving maul. France then bagged a third try off another maul via halfback Baptiste Jauneau.
Che Clark appeared to give New Zealand some life just before halftime however he was denied by the video referee who picked up that his knee had gone into touch as he looked to score.
Instead, France added to New Zealand's pain with a try to open the second half as Tuilagi crashed over the line again, giving them a 28-0 lead.
The Baby Blacks finally got their moment to strike back after Jauneau was yellow-carded soon after and despite Macca Springer's best efforts to take advantage immediately, he too was denied a try after replays showed he led with an elbow while trying to shake off a tackler on his way to the line.
To make matters worse, Springer's action was also deemed worthy of a yellow card and so off he went.
The Baby Blacks pack finally broke the Kiwi goose egg in the 58th minute with a penalty try before Peter Lakai added to the comeback attempt with a powerhouse effort, busting through three tackles to make the score 28-14.
But France shut down any hopes of another comeback with a try in the 68th minute, sealing a 35-14 win in the process.
It means the Baby Blacks now sit third in Pool A but are still in control of their own destiny for making the playoffs with Japan - who have suffered two big losses to France and Wales to date - their final pool game.
In the major upset of the tournament so far though, Italy stunned South Africa 34-26 in Pool C this morning.
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