England 20-29 South Africa: World champions inflict third narrow Autumn Nations Series defeat on hosts

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Sky Sports News' James Cole reacts to England's loss in the Autumn Nations Series international against world champions South Africa

England succumbed to their third defeat in a row in the Autumn Nations Series as world champions South Africa held them off in a 29-20 victory.

After narrow losses to New Zealand and Australia in previous weeks due to late missed opportunities and tactical errors, England were held at arms-length by a greater margin by the Springboks on this occasion, who managed to hold an error-strewn side at bay with only 14 players for much of the closing stages.

A pulsating first half saw England trail 17-19 at the break after five tries had been exchanged in the opening 26 minutes.

England took an early lead through Ollie Sleightholme, but South Africa roared back as first Grant Williams crossed under the posts, then Pieter-Steph du Toit charged down a Marcus Smith clearance and Cheslin Kolbe finished off a superb Manie Libbok cross-field kick.

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Pieter-Steph du Toit scored South Africa's second try against England in a frantic first half

Sam Underhill clawed England back into the game on his return with their second try before the interval.

But after reclaiming the lead through a Smith penalty on 52 minutes at 20-19, it was Kolbe who again went over for his second and South Africa's fourth try to see them reclaim a lead they would not relinquish.

Handre Pollard, the man whose kicking saw South Africa edge to a 16-15 World Cup semi-final win just over a year ago against England, returned again with his boot to kick a penalty that put the Springboks more than a converted score ahead.

It would prove the final points of the game where England came up short for their fifth successive defeat stretching back to last summer's Test series in New Zealand.

How England fell short again

There was once again an electric atmosphere around Twickenham with a crowd of more than 81,000 inside the stadium to see the first meeting between the two nations since a nail-biting World Cup semi-final in Paris in October 2023.

In one of the most chaotic opening quarters to a Test match in the history of this ground, five tries were exchanged in the first 26 minutes.

England landed the first blow to a raucous reaction from the packed house as recalled winger Sleightholme went over from Smith's clever initial dummy drop-goal attempt and then neat pass out wide to the left.

But despite Smith adding the extras and South Africa starting nervously, they would not be written off.

Ollie Sleightholme scored England's opening try against South Africa in a pulsating start to the game

First scrum-half Williams darted away from Freddie Steward's challenge to cross under the posts, then flanker Du Toit charged down a Smith attempted clearance after Jack van Poortvleit had also got his box kick wrong to dot down in the corner before Kolbe crossed over the other side of the ground from Manie Libbok's brilliant cross-field kick.

England looked wounded but Underhill, one of four changes to the starting XV from the defeat by Australia, barged his way over to claw them back into things with a second try in a pulsating first half.

But despite closing the half with momentum, it was South Africa who restarted with more promise and they looked to have extended their lead when Kurt-Lee Arendse was set free by full-back Aphelele Fassi down the left wing only for the full-back's pass to have been adjudged forwards by television match official Ben Whitehouse.

England's Maro Itoje was penalised for a neck roll when Henry Slade looked to have scored a third try

That let-off could have stirred England, but they too had a try chalked off soon after for Henry Slade after an earlier neck roll by Maro Itoje was spotted on the replays.

Smith did kick England ahead shortly after to put them 20-19 ahead, but it would be their last points of the contest.

After Pollard had helped South Africa reclaim the lead at 22-20 with a penalty from distance that bounced off and over the crossbar, lightning winger Kolbe came up with the goods again to help his side go more than a converted score in front on 62 minutes.

Damian de Allende was the architect as he barged through weak tackles from Slade and then Ben Earl before off-loading to his right.

England had their chances to take the match deep but repeated ill-discipline and handling errors cost them and they were ultimately unable to take advantage of a yellow card for replacement prop Gerhard Steenekamp with 12 minutes to play.

Cheslin Kolbe touched down for tries in either half for South Africa

George: "We didn't adapt"

England captain Jamie George speaking to TNT Sports:

"We are seeing that it's a game of fine margins.

"I think in large parts of the last five games [that we have lost] we have looked good but the final piece wasn't there - missed tackles, discipline.

"It has been different a cause in games but fundamentally we haven't got close. We have to keep working and things will go our way.

"We are a very clever rugby team and work hard to work out what we are doing. But we didn't adapt well enough [against South Africa].

England captain Jamie George saw his side lose for the third time in as many weeks to southern hemisphere opposition

"We know it's not good enough but I hope [fans] can see there is a lot of fight and a lot of endeavour in this team and stick with us.

"I couldn't be more confident in the character of the people, not just the players but the staff.

"I think we have the right people and characters and I am very optimistic about the future.

"The performances Sam Underhill, Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet put in off the back of not very much international rugby is the sign of a good team."

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England manager Steve Borthwick believes that his team will improve after their defeat against South Africa

England head coach Steve Borthwick:

"It's incredibly frustrating. I feel the frustration of the players, the disappointment of the supporters.

"As much as there's plenty to feel positive about, we want to win games. We've put ourselves in positions to win all three of these games this autumn and we've not converted them.

"These are challenging days, development days for us and while they're painful, we will work through this and come out the other side of it."

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus:

"It was a tough game, one that was going at 100mph at one stage, a one-score game for most of the evening before we got ourselves a bit of breathing space.

"It was competitive and we're far from happy with the performance, far from content but to get a result at Twickenham is still an impressive achievement.

"I think the team we put out there today has played a lot of games together and come through a lot of tight situations like we faced here, so it definitely helped having some cool, experienced heads out there."

What's next?

England will conclude their Autumn Nations Series on November 24 when they face Japan at the Allianz Stadium (4.10pm), while South Africa face Wales at the Principality Stadium on November 23 (5.40pm).