Steve Borthwick vowed to use England’s heartbreaking World Cup semi-final exit at the hands of South Africa to sow a seed for future success.

Borthwick’s unfancied side led by nine points in the final quarter and were on the cusp of a famous win until Handre Pollard’s late penalty condemned them to an agonising 16-15 defeat.

Many of England’s players collapsed to their knees following a colossal, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort against the reigning champions on a sodden evening in Paris.

While head coach Borthwick was similarly crestfallen by the dramatic late twist at Stade de France, he was proud of the efforts of his team and upbeat about what lies ahead.

“We came here with a plan to win the game and we fell a little bit short, not far short but a little bit short, so we’re desperately disappointed,” he said.

“I think we all truly believed we could do it, we were going to do it, and we came very close to doing so.

“In adversity, in these tough times, there’s usually some seed of it there that will grow and be something brilliant in the future.

“Right now it’s too early for me to find that seed but we’ll make sure we find it.

“We’ll make sure that we take some of what we find tonight, some of what we’ve gone through tonight, we’ll make sure we grab that and we’ll make sure it makes us stronger in the future.”

Captain Owen Farrell produced an outstanding performance, kicking all of his side’s points, including a superb drop goal.

His efforts looked to be sufficient for victory but RG Snyman barged over for the only try of the match in the 70th minute to set up a grandstand finish.

Man-of-the-match Pollard, who booted the Springboks to victory over England in the 2019 final, nailed the tricky conversion and then landed a monster penalty two minutes from time to inflict more anguish on the opposition.

“The players should be incredibly proud of what they’ve done and continue to do as they represent England rugby,” continued Borthwick.

“I know I’ll have at home a couple of young boys who are going to be bitterly disappointed and I’m sure there are lots of people that are proud but also gutted back in England, I’m sure there are millions of people like that.

“I care about these players, I care about these supporters, and I care about English rugby.

“What I see is a group of guys who are doing as much as they possibly can to set an example, to build a team, to have supporters proud of them.

“They’re led by this man next to me (Farrell), who I think has been and continues to be a phenomenal player and an incredible leader of this team.”

New Zealand await South Africa in next weekend’s final.

Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber praised his team’s fighting spirit.

“I pay a lot of credit to England,” he said. “They were outstanding on the night.

“They had a very good tactical plan and they put us under pressure. We will have to improve because it took us some time to get to grips with it.

“But the strength of this team is that even if we’re not playing well we find a way to get the result.

“It took 80 minutes to get a foothold in the game. The team refused to give up and fought until the end.”

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was convinced fly-half Pollard, who came on for Manie Libbok with only half an hour gone, would land the decisive penalty from just inside England’s half.

“I had no doubt at all,” he said. “He’s done it for us before.

“England are a world-class team and completely different to a year ago. They had an amazing game plan which we took too long to adapt to.

“These things happen but we dug deep to get the victory. Other teams wouldn’t be able to get the win from this. I’m not going to say it was ugly, we did what was needed.”

England collapsed to an agonising 16-15 defeat against South Africa at the Stade de France as they allowed a place in Saturday’s World Cup final against New Zealand to slip from their grasp.

Steve Borthwick’s men led by nine points in the final quarter but their wet-weather masterclass began to fade as the ‘Bomb Squad’ made their presence felt for the Springboks, especially in the scrum.

It was on the back of their set-piece ascendancy and the generalship of replacement fly-half Handre Pollard that the tables turned in a sodden Paris.

RG Snyman barged over for the only try of the match in the 70th minute and Pollard nailed a tricky conversion, setting up heart-stopping finish to a Test that was enthralling throughout.

The world champions were still two points behind but up stepped man-of-the-match Pollard to land the killer blow with two minutes left, nailing a penalty from just inside England’s half.

England’s players sank to their knees at the final whistle, their hearts broken having given their all in a rematch of the 2019 final despite being distant outsiders, and it was an especially cruel moment for Owen Farrell given his outstanding night.

Farrell was at the heart of many of his side’s best moments and although the captain drew the now customary boos when his name was read out on the PA system pre-match, he replied by drawing first blood with a penalty.

Breakdown and line-out success, as well as Ben Earl blasting off the base of the scrum, were further early wins until a promising drive downfield ended with Farrell kicking his second penalty.

Three times in a row England turned over South African line-out drives, winning a penalty on the third of them to relieve the pressure that was building on their line.

Every aspect of an arm wrestle of a contest was being won by England, but they were also their own worst enemies as they gave away three needless penalties, one of them for a moment of petulance from Farrell that allowed Manie Libbok to land three points.

His eyes bulging, Farrell was playing on the edge and had to be escorted away from referee Ben O’Keeffe, but he regained his composure to re-establish the six-point lead.

Libbok became the fall guy for South Africa’s woes when he was replaced in the 32nd minute by Pollard in the hope the 2019 World Cup winner would bring greater control.

Pollard’s first involvement was to boot a penalty and growing tension was evident as errors crept into both sides, but when Farrell found the target for the fourth time, England entered the break with a deserved 12-6 lead.

Rookie Leicester lock George Martin had been at the forefront of red rose resistance through his savage tackling and as the rain continued to fall there was no prospect of the game opening up.

Scrum-half Cobus Reinach and full-back Damian Willemse were the next to be pulled by South Africa, who now had Faf de Klerk and Willie le Roux on the field, and then Eben Etzebeth followed them into the dugout.

The changes were a reflection of England’s control and just as the Springboks appeared to be clawing their way into contention, Farrell rifled over a sensational drop-goal.

England’s captain was striking gold with every touch as a wicked crossfield grubber caused Kurt-Lee Arendse to fumble, but South Africa were beginning to harvest penalties at the scrum.

Suddenly the Springboks went up a gear, their pack pouring forwards from a line-out for Snyman to score.

It was now all South Africa, who had discovered a new lease of life, and when the moment for glory came, Pollard stepped up to deliver his monster penalty.

Fly-half Handre Pollard says the pressure of representing South Africa at the World Cup is a privilege as he bids to inflict more misery on England.

Pollard kicked 22 points in the 2019 final to guide the Springboks to glory with a 32-12 win and still remembers the disappointment etched on the faces of Eddie Jones’ men.

The fit-again Leicester playmaker is competing with Manie Libbok to start Saturday’s Paris semi-final after initially being overlooked for his country’s squad due to a calf injury.

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Pollard expects England, now led by Jones’ successor Steve Borthwick, to take their intensity and physicality to a “whole new level” but insists the heavily-fancied reigning champions are ready for it.

“You could see on their faces four years ago the disappointment and I’ve been part of a squad that’s fallen out in a semi-final in a World Cup (in 2015) and it sits with you the rest of your life,” he said.

“There’s a lot of things you look back (on) and regret and maybe think you could have done differently, and I’m sure they will come with that mindset this weekend.

“I think they will be ruthless, I think they will take their intensity and physicality to a whole new level.

“But that being said, we’re prepared for that, we’re ready for that and we enjoy that.

“That’s always a part of the game we love and if there’s going to be beef, there’s going to be beef.

“It’s Test rugby, it’s 80 minutes and we’ve just got to go out and play the game.”

South Africa are seeking to reach their fourth World Cup final, having lifted the trophy in 1995, 2007 and 2019.

Pollard believes the Springboks’ enviable ability to deliver when it really matters can partly be attributed to adversity some players face during childhood.

“It’s just the way we’re brought up,” he said. “We love it.

“It’s not always been easy for a lot of our guys in our squad growing up so when we get to this position and get to this point where there should be a lot of pressure on us, we refer back to it a lot, this is not really pressure, this is more privilege to be a part of these occasions.

“I think our game model and the way we play the game suits World Cups pretty well. We’re comfortable in this environment.

“As a group we just enjoy it, really enjoy that pressure. We always say it’s a privilege to have this pressure on our shoulders playing for our country.”

South Africa progressed to the last four by upsetting hosts France 29-28 on Sunday.

That epic contest included Cheslin Kolbe successfully charging down a Thomas Ramos conversion and Damian Willemse calling for a scrum off a mark inside his own 22.

Earlier in the tournament, the Springboks attracted attention for a bold selection of a seven-one split of forwards and backs on their bench for the Pool B loss to Ireland.

Pollard says players fully embrace the innovative tactics cooked up by director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber.

“Nothing that they do is for no reason, it’s all thought of, it’s all tick-list planned,” he said.

“We trust them because they’ve earned our trust over the years from what they’ve done and how they’ve prepared.

“So when they come up with these ideas, there are no questions asked.

“They give us a reason why we do whatever we do and then we just back it and we’re all in and we all just trust each other, players to coaches and coaches to players.”