England seal World Cup final spot

England have sealed their place in the Rugby World Cup final after earning a 19-7 victory over New Zealand. The Red Rose made a fast start at Yokohama International Stadium as Manu Tuilagi crossed the tryline with just two minutes on the clock. It was the quickest try New Zealand have conceded in World Cup history and set the tempo of a historic night in Japan. George Ford ensured England took a firm grip on proceedings by kicking them into a 10-0 lead at the half time break. Sam Underhill and Ben Youngs both had tries ruled out by referee Nigel Owens and that offered hope to the defending champions. Ardie Savea picked up a loose ball following a scrappy line-out before going over with 22 minutes still left to play. However, Ford kept England on the front foot with two further penalties to send New Zealand, who hadn’t lost a World Cup game since the 2007 quarter-final, packing. Wales and South Africa meet in Sunday’s semi-final for the right to face England in the final next Saturday. Eddie Jones told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Whenever you play against New Zealand, you’re never happy. You might beat them on the scoreboard but you never really beat them. They kept coming at us and we needed to dig deep and a find a bit extra. “We’ve come here to be the world’s best and we haven’t done that yet, so that’s where we need to go.”