England battled their way into a first-ever Junior World Championship final by smashing their way past South Africa in a late-night thriller at Cardiff Arms Park.

Joe Simpson and Noah Cato’s first half tries rewarded England’s forward superiority, only for two errors to let South Africa back into the game as captain Gerrit Jan van Velze and Cecil Afrika struck against the run of play. But England’s dominance up front – where they were more than a stone a man heavier than the Springboks – told in the third quarter as Alex Goode’s penalties nudged them six points clear going into the last 10 minutes. And even though Francois Brummer pulled three points back to keep the tension at boiling point, prop Alex Corbisiero was driven over in injury time for the decisive try to book a final date with New Zealand at Swansea on Sunday night.

Hugo Ellis’s side went into the game having made three changes to the side that beat Australia 18-13. Alex Tait came in at full back, Cato moving onto the wing, with Ben Thomas and Matt Cox drafted into the pack. They dominated the opening quarter, putting pressure on South Africa at the scrum and denting them repeatedly in midfield. Simpson gave them the perfect start in the sixth minute after a drive to the edge of the Baby Boks’ 22 he ducked past the challenge of Blue Bulls scrum half Francois Hougaard and accelerated away to the line with Alex Goode converting.

Brummer got South Africa on the board in the 16th minute with a penalty but Goode was on target again to stretch England’s lead with a routine shot from 25 metres out in front. straight from the restart South Africa took advantage of two costly England errors to force their way into the lead. First a chip down the blindside wrongfooted two defenders, allowing Afrika to regather and offload for captain van Velze to score, then Goode’s attacking kick was charged down allowing Afrika to strike with Brummer converting.

England responded moments before the break, though, with a brilliant piece of anticipation from Cato, who picked off Brummer’s pass and went 70 metres to score and tie the game up once more. The error-count increased in the second half’s teeming rain but England struck the first blow when Goode stroked over his second penalty in the 42nd minute. He missed from extreme long range just before the hour as South Africa struggled to get out of their own half. But then they did Simpson’s brilliant breaks and a dominant pack pinned them back there, although they couldn’t turn their dominance into points.

Goode stretched the lead with another three-pointer from wide on the left 14 minutes from time, only for South Africa to mount a telling drive downfield with England controversially penalised on the floor defending in midfield and they cut the lead with Brummer’s second penalty. He was agonisingly wide two minutes from time after England conceded 10 metres for backchat before a lineout steal but Simpson’s long clearance took them to safety and the pack shoved Corbisiero over from close range to start the celebrations.

England: Alex Tait (Newcastle Falcons); Noah Cato (Saracens), Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors); Alex Goode (Saracens), Joe Simpson (London Wasps); Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby), Joe Gray (Northampton Saints), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Ben Thomas (Saracens), Gregor Gillanders (Leicester Tigers), Matthew Cox (Worcester Warriors), Calum Clark (Leeds Carnegie), Hugo Ellis (London Wasps, Captain).
Replacements: Jon Fisher (London Irish) for Clark 49, Mark Odejobi (London Wasps) for Tait 67.
Scorers: Simpson, Cato, Corbisiero. Conversion: Goode. Penalties: Goode 3.

South Africa: Wilton Pietersen; Cecil Afrika, Stefan Watermeyer, Robert Ebersohn, Lionel Mapoe;  Francois Brummer, Francois Hougaard; Corne Fourie, Henri Bantjes, Frederick Kirsten, Martin Muller, Cornell Hess, Johan van Deventer, Thiliphaut Marole, Gerrit Jan van Velze (Captain).
Replacements: Wiehahn Herbst for Kirsten 41-49 & 65, Ralph Koster for Marole 53, Vainon Willis for Watermayer 67, Pieter Janse Van Vuuren for Bantjes 67,
Scorers: Tries: van Velze, Afrika. Conversion: Brummer. Penalties: Brummer 2.

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland).

---