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World champions South Africa pounced on another error-strewn performance by England to consign the hosts to a record 42-6 defeat at Twickenham.

First half tries from Danie Rossouw and Ruan Pienaar were added to after the interval by Adi Jacobs, Jaque Fourie and Bryan Habana as South Africa ran in five scores despite having a man sent to the sin-bin in either half.

"It was a brutal lesson," Johnson said. "We created a lot of opportunities but the execution was poor.

"It's a real character week for all of us now. We can either pack it all up or come back and try to win the game. We have to bounce back and play our hearts out."

England made a solid start to the match with Danny Cipriani giving the hosts a three point lead within a minute, but Pienaar quickly levelled for South Africa when England were penalised for not releasing the ball at the breakdown.

Cipriani had a second chance to put England in the lead but his effort from the halfway line fell just short.

It was a decent effort from the young England fly-half but South Africa took the escape as a signal to run riot as England produced another error-riddled performance.

Roussow forced his way over for the first try after an attacking lineout for the hosts when the England defence was exposed.

Pienaar added the extras before single-handedly exposing England's inexperience - Cipriani took far too long over a clearance kick allowing the Springbok to charge the ball down and take it on for an unchallenged solo try which he also converted.

England once again found themselves penalised at the breakdown, allowing Pienaar to add another penalty to South Africa's tally.

Cipriani recovered his composure enough to double England's output in the first half but it was scant consolation to the hosts who were being dominated in all aspects of the game.

Things were to go from bad to worse though for England as, not only did they fail to put any points on the board while Tendai Mtawarira was in the sin bin, but they were also forced to defend frantically for the last 10 minutes of the half to keep the score down at 20-6.

There were better signs from England at the start of the second half as Ugo Monye and Delon Armitage, both bright points for England, strung some moves together. But again the final ball was a problem and the hosts were unable to capitalise.

South Africa quickly recovered though and Adi Jacobs scored their third try of the afternoon after a brilliant decoy run from Jean De Villiers had opened up acres of space for JP Pietersen.

Pienaar again added the conversion before kicking a third penalty when Nick Easter was caught playing the ball off his feet.

South Africa saw Conrad Jantjes sent to the sin-bin for a late shoulder charge on Armitage, after the London Irish man had already chipped the ball away upfield.

But again England failed to take advantage of the opportunity and Johnson will want to forget the final 10 minutes as South Africa ran in another two tries.

Fourie got the first by out-muscling Paul Sackey for a loose ball before running through to touch down unchallenged. Replacement Francois Steyn added the conversion before the Boks finished with a flourish, working the ball across the field for Habana to cross over on the right wing.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport