England flyhalf Toby Flood believes reaching the semifinals of the World Cup in New Zealand is the 'minimum requirement' for Martin Johnson's side.

England flyhalf Toby Flood believes reaching the semifinals of the World Cup in New Zealand is the 'minimum requirement' for Martin Johnson's side.

The 2011 Six Nations champions face Argentina, Georgia, Romania and Scotland in Pool B and topping the group could set up a potential quarterfinal showdown with France – who England have beaten in the past two World Cups – with southern hemisphere giants Australia the likely opponents in the last four.

And Leicester Tigers No.10 Flood believes that if England can progress to that stage then a second Webb Ellis Trophy is more than possible.

"Our goal is to reach the semifinal," said the 25-year-old. "That is our minimum requirement. I would be very disappointed if we don't get that far.

"Obviously our aim is to win the World Cup, we want to go as far as we possibly can but to win a trophy you have to take it one stage at a time.

"If you can make the semi-finals then anything can happen. You are one game away from the final and you can readjust your goals from there.''

But the former Newcastle Falcons star insists none of the squad are taking progress for granted, after they finished their ultimately successful Six Nations campaign with a defeat to Ireland.

Flood, who came off the bench during the 2007 World Cup final defeat to South Africa, said the reverse in Dublin has taught England the importance of continually evolving their gameplan.

"That is hugely important,'' he added.

"We started the tournament fantastically and we were playing in a certain manner but the Dublin weekend taught us the need to evolve as a squad, that we need to make better judgments.

"We need to be preparing specifically for that one game rather than preparing in general.

"But take it back a year and half and people were saying we can't play rugby. When we do people say we got caught out. Ultimately as a squad we are getting much better."