Smith brands England 'soft' after 45-21 mauling hands Boks fifth straight Test win

Fin Smith delivered a blunt self-assessment after England were beaten 45-21 by South Africa at Ellis Park on Saturday, admitting his side were “soft” defensively in a defeat that stretches their losing run to five consecutive Tests.

The Springboks raced into a 17-0 lead before England rallied through tries from Ellis Genge and George Martin to cut the deficit to three points at half-time. The second-half, however, unravelled badly. Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper were both shown yellow cards for illegal tackles, leaving England to defend with 13 men and conceding an inevitable late collapse.

Despite the brief resurgence, Smith was more troubled by the opening period than the final scoreline. “We still have to question why we started as poorly as we did,” the 24-year-old fly-half said. “For about 50 minutes of that game you saw how we wanted to play but then, ultimately, they were too good for us in the end.”

“I’m actually more frustrated about how we started rather than how it went at the end. At the end, down to 13, we were still fighting against a top side like that. We were soft defensively, missed a lot of tackles and ultimately they scored quickly when they got into our 22.”

Smith acknowledged the scale of England’s reversal of fortune. A 12-Test winning run that lasted until their Six Nations opener against Wales has given way to five straight defeats, and the fly-half admitted he cannot yet fully explain the slide. “After our win streak people were talking about us being the team to beat and now we have lost five on the trot. We are digging deep to find out why that is the case but right now I couldn’t tell you.”

The inquest has already begun within the camp, with Smith identifying two clear areas of concern. “I feel like I could summarise pretty quickly already what it is going to be about — it is going to be around discipline and the aerial game, which they got the better of,” he said. “There will be some tough conversations over the next couple of days and then we will just turn our focus onto what is coming up next.”

England’s July tour continues with back-to-back Tests against Fiji and Argentina, giving Steve Borthwick’s side little time to dwell on the Ellis Park defeat before facing two more dangerous opponents.