England secured their place in the inaugural final after a convincing victory over a competitive Serbian side.

 The English scored first through Daniel Chrimes’ unconverted try but Serbia surprisingly took the lead when Dalibor Vukanovic added the extras to his touchdown in the tenth minute.

 The more experienced English side re-asserted themselves when Gareth Knowles, Tom Harrison and James Haynes crossed before the interval; Vukanovic keeping his side in touch with two field goals to make it 18-8 at the break in an open contest.

 The superior fitness and skills of the English saw them dominate the second period and although Vukanovic added two penalties to his tally; touchdowns from Chrimes and Knowles each with their second, Alex Raymond, Vinny Finnegan and Matt Barber saw the group favourites run out relatively convincing nine-try winners

ENGLAND
1 Darren Fletcher
2 James Haynes
3 Daniel Chrimes
4 Sam Gee
5 Vinny Finnegan
6 Chris Tuson
16 Alex Raymond
18 Matt Barber
19 Tom Harrison
10 Greg Mannion
11 Adam Rudd
16 David Cookson
13 Kristian Hodson

Subs (all used)
14 David Rolt
7 Scott Low
9 Daniel Whitmore
12 Gareth Knowles

Tries: Chrimes (3, 50), Knowles (16, 58), Harrison (23), Haynes (35), Raymond (42), Finnegan (47), Barber (69)
Goals: Tuson 4, Gee 1

Serbia
1 Ivan Susnjara
2 Branko Vojvodic
3 Milan Radojevic
11 Darko Nerandzic
5 Ivan Mitic
6 Dalibor Vukanovic
7 Mate Grinic
8 Boris Martic
9 Filip Brkic
10 Marko Dulovic
4 Popovic Vukasin
12 Goran Porobic
13 Soni Radovanovic

Subs (all used)
14 Marko Milosavjevic
15 Zlatko Pesic
16 Nkisa Unkovic
17 Milan Susnjara

Tries: Vukanovic (10)
Goals: Vukanovic 3
Field Goals: Vukanovic 2
Coach: Gareth Jones

Referee: Laurent Molinier, (France)
Ville de Canet man of the Match:
James Haynes (England)
Attendance: 254

article by Phil Caplan
11 July 2006