That game was much more one-sided than the scoreline would have you believe. Particularly in the second half, this was a game in which there would only be one winner.

The biggest problem for England was their error-count and tactical decisions. Together, those two shortcomings constantly ceded the initiative and momentum to South Africa. Whenever England looked as if they were about to make headway, a simple mistake would set them back and put the Springboks on the front foot again.

I think the biggest problem England’s players faced was one that was set in stone a while back, and that was their preparation. I am simply amazed that they went back to sea level to train, and then travelled to altitude shortly before the game. Unless sports science has changed a lot since I was travelling to South Africa, you need to be there for eight days to fully acclimatise, or play within 24 hours of arriving, so it was no surprise to me that they faded so disastrously in the second halves of the first two Tests.

That said, that was not the reason they lost this Test. For 10 minutes England were bossing the game, but it was their error count which meant that they were unable to build a winning lead. The penalty count against them allowed South Africa to gradually dominate territory and possession.