Carl Fearns (Sale Sharks) scored twice from the base of the scrum, whilst Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) and Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby) also touched down over the try line. London Irish full back Tom Homer added14 points with Rory Clegg securing a second half penalty.

Samoa's slack defending certainly helped them but the way England kept the pressure on their rivals was hugely encouraging, and they now face either France or South Africa in next Wednesday's semi final.

England made eight changes to the side that beat Scotland 30-7, including the re-introduction of Calum Clark as captain for Bristol's Luke Eves, who had been handed the honour in his replacement.

They had started slowly against Japan and Scotland but got off to a flier here with two tries from Trinder in the first 10 minutes.

Eves continued to impress with a striking break, followed by Homer's support run and a swift offload to Trinder for the first score down the right. Homer's conversion was promptly followed by Ben Youngs' chip over the ruck into open space, superbly gathered by Trinder to touch down a second.

Homer's 13th and 20th minute penalties established a healthy lead and despite putting themselves under pressure with a few unforced errors, England were exposing some striking Samoan weaknesses in defence and at the set piece, despite loosehead Ben Moon giving away 55kg in weight to Uini Atonio.

Samoa missed a glaring chance to get on the board when Rayhan Laulau topped his shot from in front of the posts and England added a third try when Trinder broke, setting Lowe soaring to the line.

Any fears about dealing with Samoa's big pack evaporated on the half-hour when they were shoved backwards, Fearns finishing off the pushover try.

England added a fifth try on the stroke of half-time, with Fearns again breaking through and feeding Youngs from the base of a five-metre scrum.

The second half was much more sedate, the job done and the heat and humidity taking their toll. Referee Pascal Gauzere was forced to stop play regularly, allowing the players to take on more water.

Clegg added a penalty but England lost some shape after that and Samoa took advantage with a 50th minute try from scrum half Auvasa Falealii.

Fearns added his second on the hour, though, and Sharples jinked over after a neat switch of play by Dave Lewis to take them past the half-century mark 10 minutes from time.

Bristol's Luke Eves commented on the performance,

"We knew we hadn't played to the best of our ability so far so it was nice to play some really good rugby and take it to them."

"Finishing off the chances we were creating was a consistent problem throughout the Six Nations and it was something we'd been focusing on, so I was delighted with the precision we showed today."

"We just need to keep raising the tempo. The speed with which we played against Samoa was great. The accuracy was good, we didn't put many balls down, everyone knew their roles and did their jobs."

England U20: Tom Homer (London Irish; Greig Tonks, Leicester Tigers 41); Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby), Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby; Dave Lewis, Gloucester Rugby 54), Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby), George Lowe (Harlequins); Rory Clegg (Newcastle Falcons; Rob Miller, Newcastle Falcons 53), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs), James Clark (London Irish), Bob Baker (London Wasps), Dan Williams (Gloucester Rugby), Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors; James Gaskell, Sale Sharks 55), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Calum Clark (Leeds Carnegie, captain; Josh Ovens, Bath Rugby 17-23, 59), Carl Fearns (Sale Sharks; Jamie George, Saracens 67).
Replacement (not used): Shaun Knight (Gloucester Rugby)
Scorers: Tries: Trinder 2, Fearns 2, Lowe, Youngs, Sharples. Conversions: Homer 4. Penalties: Homer 2, Clegg.