Owen Farrell praises England’s ‘great effort’ in victory over Argentina which sealed a bronze medal at the Rugby World Cup – after a disastrous warm-up series had threatened to ruin their campaign

• England clinched third place at the Rugby World Cup after beating Argentina
• Steve Borthwick’ side edged out Los Pumas 26-23 in a scrappy game in Paris
• It was the final international for Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Courtney Lawes

England skipper Owen Farrell expressed his pride in his team after they beat Argentina to win the bronze medal at the World Cup.

The team travelled to France in disarray after a disastrous warm-up series but silenced some of their critics by reaching the semi-finals.

The likes of Ben Youngs and Dan Cole signed off their international careers with a win on Friday as Farrell hailed their service to the national team.

‘I’m proud we found a way to win tonight,’ said the No 10. ‘It was a scrappy old game but I thought on the back of another six-day turnaround and a loss last weekend it was a great effort.

‘You have to be able to play rugby a few different ways and we’re developing that. We’re getting better and hopefully this team keeps improving. I know it will. But we’ve had a proper crack at this tournament and I’m proud of the effort the lads have put in.

England skipper Owen Farrell expressed his pride in his team after they claimed the bronze

Ben Youngs (left) announced retirement from international rugby after England’s win 

Retiring Courtney Lawes described it as the ‘end of an era’ as England prepare for a rebuild

On the retiring players, he added: ‘They’ve obviously played a lot of games and been around for a long, long time. 

‘It’s not easy to do that. It’s a lot of work to stay around this team for that long and they’ve done that. They’re unbelievable servants to English rugby.’ Retiring flanker Courtney Lawes described it as the ‘end of an era’ as Steve Borthwick prepares to rebuild his team for the next four-year cycle.

‘It’s been a weird week but I’m very content with my years of service and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where the team goes in the future,’ said Lawes. ‘Hopefully they can give it a crack in the next World Cup.

‘Cohesion is the biggest thing for us. We’ve not spent a lot of time as a whole coaching staff and group. We’ve had five months to get where we have done. We’ve got a bit more time to build now hopefully.

‘It’s a bit of a changing of the guard. It’s the end of an era for a lot of us. It’s been my privilege to play with these players.’

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