England and Wales won through to the final of the FIRA Women's European Championship in Amsterdam on Saturday 24 May with tight semi final victories over Ireland and France.
Defending champions France will not defend their title after they were beaten by the Welsh in Leiden 18–10. The French never had the upper hand and trailed Wales for the entire match, scoring a consolation try at the death.
Wales repeated their excellent quarter final performance against Scotland, allying strong and precise support play with, speed and good defensive organization.
Six Nations Grand Slam winners England fell behind against Ireland early on but soon hit back in Drachten, Katherine Merchant claiming a brace of tries and Maggie Alphonsi and Fiona Pocock also crossing the white wash.
"Coming into the tournament it was our aim to win it, but to do that we obviously had to make the final so we've had two strong wins and are now ready to go out there and hopefully play a good game on Saturday," England captain Catherine Spencer told Total Rugby Radio.
"Sweden aren't as strong as the Six Nations sides and we were able to put out six new caps against them, which was great for the strength of England women's rugby. Ireland was quite a stop-start game but it was a good challenge for us and we came through. We need good close games of rugby, they're playing some good rugby at the moment and it's nice to know that you have to be at the top of your game.
"Coming into the tournament, on paper most people would have expected it to be an England-France final but Wales are playing very well. They improved all the way through the Six Nations and have had a couple of good games in this tournament.
"We're looking forward to it but we'll need to be on top of our game. We haven't won this tournament since 1997 so if we can it will reaffirm to us that we can cope with the pressure, the expectation that we put on ourselves."
In the ranking games Scotland dominated Netherlands 26–0 and Spain overcame Sweden 20–0.