England coach Stuart Lancaster defended the character of his side after their narrow defeat against South Africa at Twickenham.
Three penalties from substitute Owen Farrell saw England cut South Africa's 6-16 lead to just one point with time ticking away, but missed opportunities earlier in the match prevented them from victory.
"When you go down 6-16, you ask whether you have the character to pull yourselves back into the game and have a chance of winning, which we did. You can't question the character of this England side - you might have been able to do so in the past, but not now," said Lancaster.
"It was difficult conditions, there was a lot of kicking - but generally our accuracy at the breakdown, our intent to play, kicking game, set-piece were all good and a step up from last week and not to get the result has left us all disappointed. I've got a very frustrated changing room. "
"With conditions as they were today, you have to take your points. We matched their physicality and came out on top in that area, but they kicked better than we did - Ruan Pienaar especially."
England were booed when Chris Robshaw elected to go for the posts with time running out, rather than opting for a line-out and a chance to win the match with a try.
"We'll sit down with the generals and review all the decisions, not just the one at the end. Some we get right and some we don't and that is part of any side's development. The purpose of having a captain is that the players back his decisions," added Lancaster.
"We're pleased with our breakdown work and physicality and it was a big step up on the Australia game. We're going to bottle the frustration because we've got the All Blacks around the corner."
"There's enough there from a young side to give us the confidence that we will win long-term."
Comments
Pienaar1995 says...
I just don't get Stuart Lancaster. Praising the character of the team because they didn't give up when 16-6 down? Wow, a massive 10 point deficit and they somehow managed to pull themselves back into the game. Incredible stuff! He must set his expectations quite low if he is impressed by that.
Posted 12:46 26th November 2012
APV1 says...
We lost because we were outsmarted again.
@ Zambokke - perhaps we could have had a 13 man line-out. It worked for the Welsh...
Posted 11:30 26th November 2012
Zambokke says...
NH Saints - you probably would have kicked to the corner, won your line out, attacked for a few exciting phases and then made a mistake as this was the pattern of the whole game - you attacked through your forwards and we stopped them. Maybe Robshaw thought best to lose by 16-15 than 16-12? I don't know, but it was a weird decision which we all welcomed. Who knows what would have happened, but why do all the Brits presume that you would have scored? I look forward to the AB game good - luck you'll need it.
Posted 20:35 24th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Decisions alone could easily have meant a draw last and a win this week but its all ifs and buts. No improvement. We've always seen great potential at the end of the rainbow. If Lancaster is bottling their disappointment I hope he's got a big bottle. France and now Ireland are realising potential and Wales will make a lot out of their winning the second half in a real test match. I see no more improvement or potential than in any other team in the top 8.
Posted 20:33 24th November 2012
NHsaints says...
Robshaw was clearly trying to avoid a repeat of last weekend's oz decisions, but really with a 4 point defecit (not a six) we should have gone for the try, it wouldn't have mattered if we'd not got the conversion because the win would have been in the bag, still...a draw in SA, a game we should have won vs Oz if not for inexperience and injury and a near win at home vs SA makes me proud to say I'm english, and proud of the England boys, only months in from the six nations and we're looking better than we have in nearly 10 years...this is the best squad since 2003, now we just have to see them develop and reach their potential.
Posted 20:00 24th November 2012