'A lot of people said we wouldn't get out of the pool' - Steve Borthwick after England's win in quarter-final

England head coach Steve Borthwick has hit back at the critics for writing his team off even before the World Cup started.

Ever since Borthwick took over as head coach from Eddie Jones earlier in the year, England finished fifth in the Six Nations tournament and suffered three defeats in the four warm-up games leading to the World Cup that saw them slip to the eighth place in the World Rugby Rankings.

Nevertheless, the finalist of the 2019 edition picked themselves up in the ongoing campaign with wins over Argentina, Japan, Chile and Samoa in the group stage followed by a 30-24 win over Fiji in the quarter-final last weekend.

They now face defending champions South Africa in the semi-final on Saturday and Borthwick is upbeat about his team's chances.

"A lot of people said we wouldn't get out of the pool. We got out of the pool, now we got out of the quarterfinal," said Borthwick.

"Now these players have an opportunity in Paris in the semifinal. I am sure we will be written off again but these players rise to the occasion."

Meanwhile, captain Owen Farrell, who played a clinical role in the win over Fiji kicking 20 points credited his team-mates for the victory and is looking forward to the encounter against the Springboks.

"The forwards did a great job and put it on the plate for us. I just had to knock it over," he said.

"The effort of the full squad into this week has made it an enjoyable week and a week we've all got after," he said. "We're now in a big knockout game.

"We'll make sure we'll look at (problems) and work on them going into this big week."