CHARLIE SHARPLES made his first start for England Saxons as they booked their place in the Churchill Cup final with a 41-14 victory over Tonga at Kingsholm.

The Dursley youth product showed glimpses of his blistering pace as he played the full 80 minutes, but damp and gloomy conditions led to a forwards dominated game, with England’s pack – featuring former Frampton Cotterell youth player Dave Attwood – forcing three penalty tries.

After the match, Sharples said on Twitter: “Fantastic result from the boys today! Great to play at kingsholm!”

The Saxons will now take on Canada in a repeat of last year’s final at Worcester on Saturday.

Head coach Stuart Lancaster said: “If you’d have said at the start of the game that we were going to win 41-14 I would have taken that. "Our objective was to reach the final and now we want to win it – last year Canada gave us a real hard game and I am sure it will be the same this time.”