England took an early lead when the competition’s joint top scorer Wade latched on to an Owen Farrell grubber kick to touch down after just three minutes.

But France bounced straight back with Perpignan prop Sébastien Taofifenua crossing after concerted pressure.

Biarritz’s Jean-Pascal Barraque converted to give France the lead, and he added a penalty soon after only for Ford to bring England back to within two points.

And the 18-year-old gave England back the lead on the stroke of half-time as he danced through tackles to dart over.

Barraque evened things up just after the break with a penalty, and France reclaimed the lead ten minutes into the second half as winger Marvin O’Connor evaded a couple of tackles to cross.

Five minutes later Ransom made the most of some English pressure to go over and give England back the lead for the final time.

Ford added two more penalties to stretch the lead to eight points, 26-18, before No. 8 Gray scored a breakaway try in the dying seconds to seal the win.

England will now face the daunting task of taking on the Baby Blacks in the final, after New Zealand swept aside Australia 37-7 in the second semi-final.