Banahan helps Saxons into final

England Saxons will play Scotland A in this weekend's Churchill Cup final. The English second string beat Ireland A 34-12 in Toronto on Saturday.

The Saxons ran in six tries at Fletcher's Field and Ireland's Keith Earls scored twice in reply. Steve Bates' side will now meet the Scots at Chicago's Toyota Park on Saturday.

In Toronto, Earls, a Munster centre, gave the Irish the lead after 10 minutes. The Bath wing Matthew Banahan then scored a try, Gloucester's Ryan Lamb converting for 7-5. The London Irish flanker Steffon Armitage made it 12-5 with a try after 32 minutes before Earls scored again, Jonathan Sexton's conversion making it 12-12. The Harlequins wing Ugo Monye scored on half-time to restart the Saxons' lead.

Banahan scored his second try five minutes after the restart and the Bristol prop Alex Clarke scored with 19 minutes left. The Bath full-back Nick Abendanon scored England's sixth try and Lamb kicked a second conversion.