Canada: Celebrate against Russia

Having beaten Italy A 26-12 in their opening game, the North Americans sank Russia with 19 unanswered second-half points to overcome a half-time deficit of three.

Justin Mensah-Coker, Connor Trainor, Ander Munro, Chauncey O'Toole and Matt Evans all crossed the whitewash to ensure Canada will await England Saxons or Tonga in the final on June 19 at Sixways.

O'Toole and James Pritchard combined superbly for Mensah-Coker to touch down the opener, which was converted by Pritchard, but Igor Kalinovsky responded with a breakaway score after sweeping up a loose ball.

Vasily Artemyev put the Europeans 15-10 in front and, after Trainor levelled things up once more, a Kushnarev penalty put Russia 18-15 up at the interval.

Mike Scholz's offload set up the night's best try for Munro, with Pritchard again converting.

O'Toole sauntered in for the fourth try and Evans' late score rounded off the win, Pritchard landing his third conversion to go with a first-half penalty.

Man of the match O'Toole said: "It feels pretty good to be in the final - that was our goal.

"It was a tough game and we knew that we would have to weather their storm and it was going to take a full 80 minutes against these guys."

Russia boss Kingsley Jones said: "I was very proud of them. They have worked hard in a short space of time. We are working on our strength and conditioning and just imagine how good we can be if we get fitter. Playing at that intensity for 80 minutes is a massive thing.

"It's a hard lesson for the lads to learn but it was a pleasing night in many ways. Of course we would like to win but we are realistic about where we are as a team."