Four years have passed since the New Zealand achieved the last of their World Rugby U20 Championship triumphs, South Africa and then England, twice, taking on the mantle of world champions instead.

After last year’s third-place finish on home soil new head coach Scott Robertson says New Zealand have left no stone unturned in their bid to recapture former glories, and the former All Black is looking forward to seeing how their detailed preparaion translates to on-field performance at the inaugural four-nation Oceania Rugby Junior Championship at Bond University on Australia's Gold Coast.

"The All Blacks are number one in the world and the expectation is that the under-20s are as well. That’s the challenge for me as a coach"

Scott Robertson, New Zealand U20s head coach

“The All Blacks are number one in the world and the expectation is that the under-20s are as well. That’s the challenge for me as a coach,”admitted Robertson, who was assistant coach in 2014. “We’ve had a good look at ourselves to see where we can get better because clearly we haven’t been good enough in the last few years.

“We’ve made tweaks and tried to refine what we do, selection being one of those things. The first part of the selection process started back in October when an under-19 provincial tournament was staged for the first time. It was good to see how the guys performed at the highest provincial level possible in their age group.

“From there we were able to assess what strength and conditioning work needed to be done, we’ve put a lot of emphasis on that, so when we came to the training camp in November we were months ahead of where we’d normally be. It’s really worked because the body mass of a lot of the guys has changed.

“We’ve struggled previous against the bigger sides whose set piece has probably been a lot more dominant,” Robertson continued.

“We made 15 lines breaks in last year’s semi-final and South Africa made two and still beat us. So we’re not doing too much wrong; we’ve just got to make sure we do the right thing when a critical moment arises – like in a one-on-one situation or a mismatch – and finish off the chances that we create.

“This Oceania tournament will enable us to see how the players perform under pressure at those critical moments.”

Captained by Atunaisa Moli, New Zealand kick-off their campaign against Japan on Friday before taking on Samoa and then hosts Australia in what is effectively a final trial for selection ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship in June.

“There’s a couple of key positions where we have more depth than we’ve previously had so there is going to be some very good players who are going to miss out,” Robertson admitted.

“Our midfield and outside backs have got a lot of depth, we’ve got guys who are playing ITM Cup and Super Rugby and our tight five is a lot stronger than previously with the amount of S&C work we’ve put in.

“There are a couple of guys who are injured and a couple who are playing Super Rugby who are not with us but will be available for the Italian campaign so the guys are playing for their position and they are really aware of that.”

With a four-day turnaround between matches and temperatures similar to those likely to be encountered in Italy, Robertson says the Oceania Rugby Junior Championship ticks all the right boxes in terms of preparing for the bigger prize ahead.

“For us it is the perfect start in our journey to reclaim the trophy. Ironically the last time we held it was when we were last in Italy. Seeing other countries win it in the last three years hasn't gone down well, at all.”

The Oceania Rugby Junior Championship 2015 will be streamed live on www.rugby.com.au.