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Martin Johnson watches as his team take on Scotland.

Auckland – England coach Martin Johnson said his team's character enabled them to beat Scotland in a tense final Pool B game on Saturday and reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.

A late try from winger Chris Ashton helped the 2003 champions and 2007 runners-up overhaul a 12-3 deficit to set up a quarter-final against France back at Eden Park next week.

England had precious few attacking opportunities in a sometimes chaotic match and, barring a couple of breaks from Delon Armitage, Ashton's 78th minute try was their only chance.

“We didn't really get a foothold in the game,” said Johnson, who captained England to their triumph eight years ago. “We didn't get an opportunity to attack them.

“There's a lot to get better at. We've got to make it easier for ourselves as we go now into the quarter-final.

“We are sometimes making it very hard for ourselves, but I think the main thing is the character we showed to get ourselves out of a very tough hole.

“We kept our nerve and got on top of them and eventually we got our reward. The game's not always going to be beautiful, there's some chaos out there...it's been a very gritty group.”

England needed to avoid defeat by eight points or more to progress and, although they never looked like failing that task, Johnson was glad they sealed a fourth win in four matches.

“It would have been a strange one to go through with a loss,” he said.

Johnson said the match reminded him of the World Cup opener against Argentina, where they scraped home 13-9.

One similarity was the disappointing kicking of Jonny Wilkinson, who missed five penalties in a row against the Pumas and succeeded with only three of eight attempts on goal against the Scots, including one of two drop goal attempts.

“Some of them were pretty far out and he's backed himself to go for them and he's continued to go for them,” said Johnson.

“Sometimes it would be easier to say let's go for the corner, but he kept us in the game. If the kicks aren't going over, you keep on going...and keep on going.”

England have beaten France in the semi-finals at the last two World Cups, but Johnson said the English would not be lulled into any sense of security by that and the French team's defeat by Tonga on Saturday.

“France are dangerous – and they're probably never more dangerous than when they're flying under the radar and that's what they're doing here,” he said.

Try scorer Ashton said he hoped to repeat the feat back at the same stadium next week and reflected his coach's attitude towards the style of the victory.

“Sometimes a World Cup is not about winning fancy,” he said. “It's a World Cup game and we had to win it.” – Reuters