England qualified for the European U19s Championshp Final with a 52-4 win over Ukraine in the first semi final, posting nine tries, Marcus Geener and Daniel Knott both with doubles, on another swelteringly hot day. “The scoreline doesn’t represent the hard work the Ukrainians put into that game,” said England U19s head coach Gary Hewer. “It was extremely tough and they never stopped coming at us, they really dug deep and caused us several threats.

“We’ve worked hard on execution and taking our chances and that showed. We came with one aim, to win the tournament, and we’ve now got that opportunity.”

Ukraine led thanks to an early Ihor Yefanov penalty but England were 30-4 up at the break, the pick of their tries from scrum half Devan Sharp who showed three dummies to jink his way over. To their enormous credit Ukraine kept England out for the third quarter but succumbed to three late long range tries.

Ukraine U19s head coach, Dan Beardshaw, commented: “We were against a well-organised, experienced side who are so good at what they do but I’m so proud of the efforts of my players, especially in scramble defence.

“For 20 minutes of the second half the score was 0-0 and we caused them a lot of problems. Attacking-wise, we’re not yet smart enough but the boys are going to take huge experience from that for the next game.”