Farrell 'proud' as England edged out in Paris

England captain Owen Farrell insisted the future was bright for Steve Borthwick's men despite their narrow semi-final loss to South Africa in Paris.

"To show the pride, to show the passion we did today and the fight, I am unbelievably proud and I hope everyone back home is," Farrell said.

"My overriding feeling now is not too much about the game but how proud I am of our group.

"How proud I am of what we have done over the last five months together.

"It has not all gone our way and the fight we have shown today and the effort that has been put in, the sheer will at times today was outstanding. I hope we have made everyone back home proud as well.

"This is definitely the last World Cup for some people, so who knows what is to come next, but one thing I do know is this team has a bright future."

"I think right now is not the moment for dissecting the game," England coach Steve Borthwick said.

"We'll reflect on it. We'll find what we're going to be better with. We'll be a better team next Friday," he added, looking forward to the bronze medal match against Argentina.

"I'll start having a good think about that. And we're looking forward to finding a sense of who we wanted to be in the final on Saturday. Now we play against Argentina back here on Friday. We'll prepare thoroughly for it."

Additional reporting: Reuters