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England 6-42 South Africa

Martin Johnson has had a difficult start as manager of England
Martin Johnson has had a difficult start as manager of England

South Africa inflicted a record home defeat on England at Twickenham.

The world champions secured their sixth straight win over England with tries from Danie Rossouw, Ryan Piennar, Adi Jacobs, Jaque Fourie and Bryan Habana

Pienaar finished with a total of 20 points while all England could muster were two penalties from Danny Cipriani.

The 35-point margin smashed the previous record, which New Zealand set in November 2006 with a 41-20 win over England.

Armitage picked a fantastic line through the broken South African defence and chipped ahead only to be flattened by Jantjes, who was sin-binned as a result.

The Springboks applied the coup de grace with two tries in the last three minutes.

The first came in a passage of play that summed up the game and England's performance.

Replacement England prop Matt Stevens lost the ball in contact five metres from the Springbok line.

Francois Steyne punted the ball clear and as Sackey dawdled, Fourie pounced to streak clear.

Armitage brought him down once but could not hold him and Fourie got up to score.

With seconds remaining, England conceded a free-kick at a scrum in their own half and Pietersen scythed through the defence before handing Habana the scoring pass.

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