England claim bronze but need more to challenge the elite

PARIS : From where they were at the end of their dismal warm-ups, England's World Cup was an unqualified success and they were within three minutes of one of the great sporting turnarounds. But they leave France still very much a work in progress.

They arrived amid the gloom of five defeats in six games but finished on a high with six wins out of seven.

The skewed nature of the draw obviously favoured them, and reaching the semi-finals looked possible and even probable regardless of their form based on their World Cup history and the quality of players in the squad.

However, it is perhaps easy to forget that Argentina were ranked two places above England when they met in their opening game in Marseille so, after having Tom Curry sent off in the third minute, to totally dominate with a kicking masterclass from George Ford to win 27-10 was an impressive achievement.

It lifted the whole mood and, though they played a very cautious game for an hour in their next match against Japan, they then cut loose to win 34-12.

The 71-0 thrashing of Chile with a largely shadow team was notable only for the record-equalling five tries of Henry Arundell and the confirmation that Marcus Smith was a dangerous option at fullback.

Already assured of top spot in their group, England laboured against Samoa before snatching a late victory. They then played very well to build a 24-10 lead against Fiji in the quarter-finals and, after two quick-fire tries levelled the scores, calmly reclaimed the advantage and the victory via Owen Farrell's boot.

In the semi-final, with a gameplan perfected for the wet conditions and the opposition, England had South Africa on the ropes for much of the game with a brilliant combination of tactical kicking and ferocious