England Under 20 coach Nigel Redman stepped down at the conclusion of the IRB Junior World Championship paying tribute to the players who had taken England to their first-ever final.

England were beaten 38-3 by New Zealand at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea, after running out of steam in their third game in eight days against Southern Hemisphere sides.

Victories over Australia and South Africa took sixth seeds England into a first-ever final at this level and ensured them of an easier route to the knock-out stages when the Junior World Championship is staged in Japan next summer.

Mark Mapletoft will lead the side there as head coach, assisted by Martin Haag, as Redman is moving to a new role at Twickenham as the RFU's elite coach development manager.

"We're very disappointed but we this season and this tournament has been awesome for us and we've achieved a lot," said Redman.

"We've beaten Australia and South Africa in the last week but New Zealand was a game too far for us.

"We have worked hard at our attacking game all season and it was disappointing that we couldn't get that going today, but they've been a terrific group of players to work with all season and they deserve a lot of credit.

"We've won a Grand Slam and a Triple Crown, beaten the number three seeds Australia and the number two seeds South Africa, reached a world final for the first time and scored more than 40 tries in doing so. All in all it's been a great season."

England were competitive throughout a tense first half, trailing 13-3 at the break and missing a couple of kickable penalty chances, then conceded late tries after flanker Calum Clark was sent-off 10 minutes from time for striking an opponent.

Captain Hugo Ellis said: "New Zealand are a fantastic side and were the better team on the day, but credit to our guys for what they've achieved this season.

"We've had two great victories in a week to get here but we maybe suffered a bit today and there were some heavy legs out there from the guys who scrummed so strongly against South Africa and Australia.

"This season has been a fantastic stepping stone for young players and some of them have developed remarkably over the course of the season.

"I take my hat off to them for what they've achieved and I hope as many as possible go on to greater things."

Redman added: "Today doesn't remove the fact that this has been an awesome season for England at this U20 level and I'm sure a lot of them will go an awfully long way."