Bristol Rugby's Eves set for World final after win

ENGLAND U20s 40 SOUTH AFRICA U20s 21

Bristol's Luke Eves helped England into their second successive IRB Junior World Championship final with victory over South Africa in Tokyo.

England trailed the Baby Boks 11-9 at half-time in yesterday's semi-final but roared back with four second-half tries, scored by Leicester's Ben Youngs, Sale's James Gaskell, Northampton's Courtney Lawes and Gloucester's Henry Trinder.

London Irish full-back Tom Homer converted all the tries and kicked four penalties for a personal haul of 20 points.

And Bristol centre Eves, who is England's vice-captain, now appears set to line up in Sunday's final against New Zealand, a year after he was on the losing side against the same opponents in the final in Wales.

Although South Africa fought hard to contain England's huge pack, the result appeared in the balance when England led 23-21 after 60 minutes.

Four minutes later, the Baby Boks' challenge fell apart when flanker Rynhardt Elstadt was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Gaskell.

Homer kicked England into a 9-0 lead, only for South Africa to regroup and take the half-time lead through two Francois Brummer penalties, and a try from Christiaan Stander.

England made a good start to the second period with scrum-half Youngs going over and Homer converting for a 16-11 lead.

But the Baby Boks went back in front through a Nicolaas Hanekom try after England had made a mess of Lionel Cronje's grubber kick. Brummer converted for an 18-16 lead, before his penalty saw his side go 21-16 up.

Lock Gaskell galloped through three tackles to score England's second try, with Homer's conversion making it 23-21.

Elstadt saw red for flipping Gaskell over in mid air – and England capitalised on their numerical advantage, with Homer's penalty making it 26-21 before Lawes and Trinder went over in the closing minutes to give the scoreline a much more resounding look.