• ‘Overall it was a pass mark and we have to improve against Fiji’ • England coach impressed with result rather than performance

Eddie Jones welcomed England’s first victory over South Africa since 2006 but was far more impressed with the result than the performance.

“We have got to get better,” said Jones, who became the first England head coach to win his opening 10 matches in charge. “We are nowhere near good enough at the moment. Overall it was a pass mark and we have to improve against Fiji next weekend.”

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Jones was without a number of players who were central to the grand slam success and the away series whitewash of Australia and handling was hazardous on a wet surface.

“We have always had depth in England and it is about having players with more ambition,” he said. “We have provided three of the six players nominated for the world player of the year and we want every one to be top-class.

“Once we had overcome a difficult first 20 minutes against South Africa, when they really came at us physically, we did some good things, although it was disappointing to concede a soft try at the end.

“Fiji is an important game for us and I have a good idea who is going to be selected. It won’t be a case of giving caps to all those who did not play today.”

England had gone 12 matches without victory over South Africa but Jones’s captain, Dylan Hartley, said there would be no celebrating as they prepare for the second of their four autumn internationals against Fiji here next Saturday. “We have plenty to work on,” said Hartley. “We pride ourselves on our discipline and it was not good enough in the first half. We also made a number of errors and it will all keep us grounded.

“It has been 10 years since we last beat South Africa, so we have that monkey off our back.”

The second-row Joe Launchbury, making his first start for England since the opening match of the Six Nations against Scotland in February, was named the man of the match. He said: “We did not get out of the blocks as quickly as we wanted but I am delighted with the win. We fought back and had a good period in the middle of the match. Our playmakers kicked well and that is what won us the game.”

South Africa’s head coach, Allister Coetzee, was left to reflect on a sixth defeat of the year. “We made a lot of mistakes and lost the contest in the air,” he said. “England’s half-backs played superbly and what we can taken out of the match is that we never gave up. Any team that does that loses its aura, but we kept going.”