Rampant England U20s reach World Cup final

England are through to the World Rugby U20 Championship final after a 39-17 victory over South Africa at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.
Martin Haag’s side, who scored six tries, will now play Ireland in Saturday’s final at the AJ Bell Stadium (7pm).
They led 31-3 at the break, scoring five tries through Max Green, Huw Taylor, Sam Aspland-Robinson, Johnny Williams and Max Malins with Harry Mallinder kicking six points.
South Africa’s solitary score came from the boot of Curwin Bosch while both sides had players sin binned during the opening 40 minutes with Jeremy Ward and Will Evans yellow carded at different points in the half.
The Junior Springboks made a good start to the second half with tries from Edwill van der Merwe and Bosch who also converted both.
But Mallinder’s penalty and a Max Wright try extended their advantage and settled the game.
“We were really pleased with today and we want to keep improving,” said Haag.
“This group of players surprise me every time they go out on the field with their intent and the way they want to work hard for each other.
“The first half was outstanding, we played with pace and transitioned well between defence and attack – our defence was strong and we scored some tries off the back of that, our attack was fantastic.
“We didn’t finish the game off as well as we would have liked but some great rugby in that first half and that did the job for us.
“We are really looking forward to final against Ireland and we need to make sure we turn up for the occasion. We are delighted to get to this position but we have got another job to do.
“Ireland were superb in their victory and I think that the way they played today will place them as favourites.
“For us we I think there are still some things that we can improve on. We’re looking forward to Saturday already, it should be a great day.”
England made the perfect start as Williams sniped through South Africa’s midfield before passing inside to Green to race under the posts unchallenged inside two minutes.
Their second came with Joe Marchant collecting Williams’ grubber through the South Africa midfield before the ball was recycled wide by England’s forwards to Jack Singleton who charged his way over the try line. He was held up however, from the resulting ruck Taylor crashed over for 12-0.
South Africa’s first points came from the boot of Bosch who dissected the posts with a penalty. Ward was then sent to the bin for taking out Malins in the air as he went to collect a high ball.
England’s third try came as forwards and backs combined to recycle the ball wide and both Malins and George Nott did superbly well to flick the ball to Aspland-Robinson on the right wing to dart over in the corner.
Mallinder converted for 19-3 with Ward returning to the game soon after. Williams continued his impressive half with a try before the break, bundling over after England had driven a line-out to within inches of the South Africa line with the conversion taking the score to 26-3.
Evans was sent to the bin just before the break but the half ended on a positive note after Marchant collected an up and under before off-loading to Malins to cross on the left wing for 31-3.
The Junior Springboks had their first try of the game with van der Merwe collecting an England cross kick inside his own 22m before racing the length of the field to score under the posts. Bosch’s conversion took the score to 31-10.
Bosch then finished off a sharp South Africa attack in midfield with his conversion reducing the deficit to 31-17. Mallinder kicked his first penalty of the game to extend their lead.
Wright went over in the corner after great hands by England created an overlap in the left corner for 39-17.