England fly-half Owen Farrell has urged his teammates to "stick together" after blowing a 24-3 lead against South Africa to lose a thrilling contest 42-39 at Ellis Park on Saturday.
After conceding three tries in a disastrous opening 17-minute spell, South Africa powered their way back with five tries of their own to go 1-0 ahead in the three-match series.
Debutant winger S’busiso Nkosi and Aphiwe Dyantyi scored three tries between them but it was the return to the side of scrum-half Faf de Klerk and fullback Willie le Roux that propelled the home side to victory while condemning England to a fourth successive Test defeat after they lost their Six Nations crown earlier this year.
England's current slump is in stark contrast to their early results under coach Eddie Jones, who led the team to a record-equalling 18 successives win, and Farrell believes there are lessons to be learned from the defeat in Johannesburg.
"We got off to a good start but then a few errors crept in. Our discipline then let us down," he said. "We have to look at the game and make sure we stick together. This will make us better and get the best out of us."
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, the first black player to lead the Springboks, said that he and his teammates refused to panic after England stormed ahead early in the match.
"It was a beautiful game. We worked really hard to make sure we were ready for this game, and thanks to everyone for coming out to support us - this is my favourite ground to play at for the Springboks," Kolisi told Sky Sports.
"I didn't need to say anything [when England scored their third try], we knew what we were doing wrong, we just had to pick the tempo up and we did that and it worked in our favour.
"We were all part of the win today, all you have to worry about is your effort you put in. So, all the debutants did what they were picked for, what they do in Super Rugby."
Earlier yesterday, New Zealand produce a second half of blistering rugby to trounce France 52-11, and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has warned the best is yet to come.
"It was our first game of the season and we don't want to get too excited about where we are at," Hansen said. "In 80 minutes we did quite a bit, but it's still going to take lot of bedding down. Half the forward pack hadn't played for three weeks for various reasons, and we were a little slow in the first 30 minutes of the game."
Also in action yesterday, Australia ended Ireland's 12-match winning run by claiming a well-earned 18-9 win over the Six Nations champions in Brisbane.
