France coach Bernard Laporte is delighted with the progress his team have made since the RBS Six Nations, and believes they have shown glimpses of the form he wants as the quarter-finals approach.

France finished third behind England and Ireland in the Six Nations, and Laporte believes the subsequent development has been hugely beneficial.

'We are playing a lot better than in the Six Nations because we have been together for three months and so we are playing better together,' said Laporte.

'That has enabled us to play a much more coherent game than in the Six Nations,' he said, before picking out the first-up win over Fiji in Brisbane as the best result.

'Our best game was against Fiji because of the speed of both the ball and the match itself,' he said.

'Against Scotland there were 15 to 20 minutes where we played at that level, but conditions were tough and that made execution very difficult,' he said.

'It was a different game, with scrappy ball and lots of stuff in the tight, but even if the execution was not brilliant, the willingness was good.

'We were never completely content with any of them, but that is the way rugby is. We can see the confidence and the collective spirit building within the team.'

* South Africa's World Cup campaign suffered a major setback when flanker Joe van Niekerk was ruled out of the tournament.

Van Niekerk could be sidelined for six months after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the weekend's 60-10 victory over Samoa, in Brisbane, that clinched a quarter-final place.

South Africa's player of the year in 2002 will now be flown home to consult a specialist and probably face surgery.

South Africa have yet to decide on a possible replacement, but the loss of van Niekerk will hit them hard as they prepare for next weekend's quarter-final.

Lock Victor Matfield (ankle) and prop Christo Bezuidenhout (knee) also picked up injuries during the Samoan match, but they are expected to be fit in time.