England will face Argentina in the Cup quarter-finals at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens series in Sydney after finishing second in Pool C.
Following on from their 22-10 win over Spain on day one, England were in complete control against Papua New Guinea as they won 35-5 and then faced world champions South Africa but went down 12-33.
England now move to the knockout phase of the competition in Sydney and will face Argentina on day three, which kicks off on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Action.
There was disappointment at the start of day two as Alex Davis was ruled out with an ankle injury sustained against Spain, a game where he scored two tries, with Ryan Olowofela coming into the squad to make his World Series debut.
However, England, in the first match of the day at Allianz Stadium, got into their stride quickly and captain Tom Mitchell and Dan Bibby crossed after Papua New Guinea were down a man following a yellow card.
Dan Norton's superb try from deep ensured England scored three times in the half-time, before Richard de Carpentier and a second from Mitchell set up a group decider against South Africa.
Mitchell was perfect with the boot as he slotted five from five, for a personal haul of 20 of England's 35 points.
Two of the best teams in the world faced off in the final game as England came up against South Africa, with both sides having already secured two wins.
Ollie Lindsay-Hague opened the scoring for England as he kicked ahead and chased hard to win the bouncing aerial challenge and cross, but Seabelo Senatla levelled the game shortly after.
A superb defensive effort by Ryan Olowofela stopped South Africa grabbing a second, but the Blitzboks did go over twice again before the break for a 21-7 lead.
Following South Africa's fourth, Dan Bibby's grubber and gather got England back in the game and although they pressured the men in green on a number of occasions, they were unable to cross and Senatla scored a breakaway try to secure the win.
"The first game on Friday was a good way to get into the tournament and to get used to the conditions out here. It was a solid performance against Spain who are a pretty tough team and then we were fairly comfortable against Papua New Guinea who were a bit of an unknown so the boys did well to adapt," said England Sevens captain Tom Mitchell.
"We had a few different combinations against South Africa in the last game of the group today. Obviously South Africa are a really strong side but I'm really impressed with the way the guys fought and the attitude was spot on.
"Slightly disappointed with some of the errors - we gave them a couple of easy scores - but the fight was brilliant against one of the top sides in the world. We're looking forward to finishing the tournament strong tomorrow starting off with Argentina and we'll be focused completely on that tomorrow morning."