RUGBY UNION: New Zealand are in their prime

England Schools 12 New Zealand Schools 23 England missed their chance of a notable double when, playing a much tighter game, they conclusively failed to add the scalp of New Zealand to Australia's in last night's schools' international at Leicester.

The English boys may have been seduced by the ease of last Wednesday's victory over the Australians at Gloucester, a laudable achievement which was put into less flattering perspective by the aspiring All Blacks' mix of toughness - beyond their years - and simple skills.

Though it took them all of the first half to establish their superiority, the New Zealanders had all the while been engaged in a softening-up process and the two tries which put them clear shortly after the interval were precise, textbook examples of theprofitable use of space.

The tourists have now gone eight matches - including internationals against Welsh Schools (42-6), Welsh Youth (29-3) and Scotland (17-6) - with hardly a hint of defeat and they will finish off against London on Sunday, an extra fixture arranged to enable them to watch Saturday's Twickenham Test.

This is a markedly better record than the Australians'. There is a more abrasive edge to the New Zealanders' play which occasionally got them into trouble last night with Bertie Smith, the Irish referee, but for the most part it was this aspect of their play that was a critical difference from England's.

Jeremy Cook gave England the lead on each of the three occasions he kicked a penalty in the first half but, in between, Ben Willis slipped out of James Cockle's grasp on the blind side of a scrum and Matthew Carrington added two penalties of his own to leave New Zealand ahead at half-time.

The game terminally went away from England as soon as the second half had begun. A long run by Patrick Petelo sowed the first confusion in the England defence and, after the exceptional Koula Tukino had gained ground, an exquisite overhead pass by Willisfreed Petelo for a try which Carrington converted.

When Brad Miller then made a scorching break for Doug Howlett's try the prospect for England was ominous. But they refused to buckle and after Cook had landed his fourth penalty the dogged England forwards spent the final 10 minutes encamped on the New Zealand line, though without scoring.

England: Penalties Cook 4. New Zealand: Tries Willis, Petelo, Howlett; Conversion Carrington; Penalties Carrington 2.

ENGLAND SCHOOLS: P Sampson (Woodhouse Grove); N Booth (Lytham HS), J Ewens (Colston's), M Dobson (RGS Lancaster), J Cook (Millfield); J Hurst (Stonyhurst), M Booth (Harrogate GS); M Worsley (St Ambrose), R Protherough (King's Worcester), C Cano (Thomas Alleyne), A Bell (Colston's), W Fuller (Wallington GS), J Cockle (Prior Park), G Wappett (Bradford GS, capt), M Cornish (Ivybridge). Replacements: T Barlow (Rossall) for Sampson,55. Temporary substitute: R Bryan (Colston's) for Wappett, 15-18.

NEW ZEALAND SCHOOLS: M Carrington; D Howlett, R Ropati (Auckland), B Miller (Northland), P Petelo; Q Sanft, B Willis (Auckland); E Morgan (Poverty Bay, capt), B Morris (Auckland), S Johnstone (Otago), P Jenkins (Canterbury), K Tukino (Counties), A Tiatia(Wellington), B McLeod (Poverty Bay), P Wilson (Otago). Replacements: M Jefferson (Poverty Bay) for Petelo, 51.

Referee: B Smith (Ireland).