Maro Itoje insists England are determined to make amends after their autumn blues continued with a dramatic 42-37 defeat by Australia at Allianz Stadium.
World champions South Africa are the daunting assignment facing Steve Borthwick’s men next Saturday as they look to regroup following defeats by New Zealand and the Wallabies.
Australia are ranked ninth in the world and finished bottom of the Rugby Championship, yet they struck three minutes into overtime to snatch victory in a frantic climax that scrambled the brains of everyone at Twickenham.
Itoje says England are eager “to do the fans proud” by dispatching the Springboks, putting a respectable shine on a Autumn Nations Series that has so far provided only crushing disappointment.
“That wasn’t acceptable and we will have an honest look at that,” the Saracens second row said.
“There’s no doubt we didn’t want to be in this position. When we came into this autumn, we weren’t expecting to lose our first two games. In times like this, it’s tough.
“We’re very disappointed, but it’s still a tremendous opportunity against South Africa. We have the world champions coming to Twickenham. We have an amazing opportunity to do something.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if we do our thing, are more consistent and play smarter rugby, then South Africa is a game we can win.
“We have our backs against the wall a little bit and so it’s a tremendous opportunity for us to take control of our narrative and get the rewards for our efforts.
“We want to come back here to Twickenham next week full of energy, full of bounce and just rip into the game, attack the game. If we do that, I think we can get the job done.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to wear this shirt for a few times. I don’t take for granted the opportunity. I was looking around during the anthems and I had to pinch myself.
“I want, this team wants, to do the shirt proud, to do the fans proud. Next weekend is an amazing opportunity to do that.”
Australia fought back three times to win Saturday’s game, including overturning a 15-3 deficit after England had made a rousing start by engineering two tries for Chandler Cunningham-South.
Head coach Borthwick criticised his team for drifting off-plan and becoming too loose, allowing the Wallabies’ attack to run riot.
“In general, we probably went away from what was good about us. We attacked really well. The first 20 minutes were really direct,” Itoje said.
“We probably started tipping it a little bit too much and ended up having loose balls, which obviously wasn’t great and created turnovers.
“We turned the ball over way, way too much (18 times). This team is at its best when we are direct, and we just need to be more consistent in regard to that.
“We need to be more aggressive in defence. We need to be more joined up. Because of the amount of turnovers, we probably weren’t able to go as hard as we would like. The improvement will definitely be to go harder off the line.”