Four penalties from Owen Farrell and a last-minute try from Ben Foden weren’t enough for England to beat a tough and powerful Springbok unit

Chris Robshaw told his team they’ve still got everything to fight for after England lost the first Test to South Africa 22-17.

The Red Rose went into the best-of three series confident they could surprise the hosts in Durban.

However, four penalties from Owen Farrell and a last-minute try from Ben Foden weren’t enough for England to beat a tough and powerful Springbok unit. Tries from new skipper Jean de Villiers and Morne Steyn, along with four Steyn penalties, saw the Boks home in Heyneke Meyer’s first game as coach.

Four penalties from Owen Farrell and a last-minute try from Ben Foden weren’t enough for England to beat a tough and powerful Springbok unit

But that hasn’t changed Robshaw’s view that England can win the series.

“We’ve still got everything to play for,” the tourists’ skipper said. “We would have liked to have won but that’s not the case and we have to bounce back [in next week’s Test in Johannesburg].

“We’ll reflect tonight and build up towards next week.” For all their bags of determination and strength, though, they lacked any real cutting edge. There were few line breaks from the visitors and they didn’t get close to a try until the end.