South Africa saw off England with a 16-15 win on a grim Saturday at Twickenham, with a late rally from the hosts seeing them fall short.
Three penalties from Pat Lambie and a bizarre try from Willem Alberts handed the visitors the win, with Toby Flood and Owen Farrell accumulating five penalties between them.
England dominated territory and possession but were naive in attack, lacking direction and depth which made matters simple for the Springboks defence. Too often forwards were found in midfield when England needed a clinical line-breaker. The fact that Tom Youngs was the most effective Red Rose attacker said it all.
An interception break from Manu Tuilagi in the second half summed up their troubles perfectly; Chris Ashton choosing to not back his pace and ultimately seeing England plod forward into another turnover.
South Africa on the other hand were more patient, clinical and superior without anywhere near the same amount of possession — executing to greater effect when inside opposition territory in a replica performance from their victory over Ireland weeks earlier.
Controlling the line-out, they were spearheaded by the excellent Eben Etzebeth and made better use of their kicks to pin England back. Their scrum was also in the ascendancy as time ticked away, gaining the upper hand and reversing England's dominance from the first half.
Mike Brown's clean break in the opening minutes gave England valuable territory, with Toby Flood eventually converting a penalty after South Africa went offside near the posts.
Lambie tied the scores with his first kick of the afternoon but England regained the lead with a penalty from the game's first scrum, Flood returning to the field after being checked for concussion to grab the points.
A knock-on from Zane Kirchner inside his own 22 handed England an opportunity at the scrum — the returning Alex Corbisiero getting the edge over Jannie du Plessis — only for Flood to miss the simple kick wide to the right.
Persistent South African pressure in England's red zone then yielded a penalty for Lambie to give the visitors the lead for the first time at 6-9.
A fine offload from Joe Launchbury released Flood before Alex Goode burst upfield to bring Twickenham onto it's feet. But the chance was wasted after a grubber kick from Flood dribbled beyond the dead ball line. Key defence at the breakdown then helped both teams clear their lines before half-time.
The Springboks started the second half with a bang and after setting up camp in the England 22 scored a bizarre try. Ben Youngs' box kick ricocheted forward off JP Pietersen, with Tom Wood fumbling the ball which dropped into the hands of Alberts who burrowed over for the opening try.
Farrell replaced a wayward Flood and drew England within seven points with a penalty after 60 minutes and then added another as the match went into the closing stages, giving England a chance as they moved within four points.
Faced with a tough decision inside Springbok territory with two minutes left, Farrell brought England within a single point with another penalty kick rather than opting for the corner. Unable to win the restart, South Africa closed out the match and remain unbeaten in November.
Man of the match: One big performance from Eben Etzebeth, dominant in the skies and a joint top tackler with 16.
Moment of the match: England may well regret their decision for points over the corner as the clock ran out.
Villain of the match: Aimless kicking. It entertains nobody and transforms games from spectacles to duds.
The scorers:
For England:
Pen: Flood 2, Farrell 3
For South Africa:
Try: Alberts
Con: Lambie
Pen: Lambie 3
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Pat Cilliers, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Elton Jantjies, 22 Jaco Taute, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Ireland led from start to finish in a dominant display, outscoring their visitors seven tries to two.
Unlike their convincing successes over Australia and Argentina this month, victory didn't come easily for the French, who were trailing the Islanders going into the final quarter.
Predictions the All Blacks' attack would incinerate Wales' defence came to fruition in the first half especially. However even though the scoreline may read otherwise, it was a much better effort from the Welsh - the second half especially.
Scotland led 6-3 at half-time but second-period tries from Tukulua Lokotui and Fetu Vainikolo saw the Pacific Islanders earn their first ever Test triumph on the European stage
A superb second half fightback almost saw the home side pulling off a draw but a penalty from their fly-half Luciano Orquera, in the 79th minute, sailed just wide of the posts.
In a lacklustre but testy match, the Maori scored two tries to one plus 22 points from Willie Ripia.
Winger Fetu'u Vainakolo grabbed the opening score for the Islanders with a try after ten minutes, before the USA's Luke Hume looked to have levelled the scores only for this try to be ruled out for a forward pass.
A dominant first-half performance saw the visitors take a 14-3 lead into the interval thanks to Strauss's first try — off a rolling maul that Scotland failed to deal with — and three penalties from Pat Lambie.
With England, Wales, Scotland and Italy losing to southern opposition this weekend — Ireland were playing in a non-cap international — the French confirmed their status as the top European team in the world rankings.
The result is Canada's third consecutive win over the Bears.
Gilroy was the star of the show while Fergus McFadden grabbed two tries and Sean Cronin, Darren Cave and Luke Marshall added the gloss.
In front of a packed crowd at Twickenham, England opened the scoring with a penalty from Toby Flood with two minutes gone, but it was Australia who held the edge early on in terms of territory and possession.
The world champions led from start to finish to maintain their perfect record against Italy, who put up a solid challenge in the first half but ultimately couldn't match the visitors' attacking firepower.
Samoa sent Six Nations holders Wales crashing to their fifth consecutive loss after the visitors secured a 26-19 win at the Millennium Stadium on Friday.
In spells it was a performance that showed once again why the All Blacks are considered the finest exponents of attacking rugby in the game. It also backed up the importance of all players - from 1 to 15 - being comfortable in any position as forward duo Luke Romano and Wyatt Crockett proved.
Both sides conceded penalty tries in a three-minute span, Romania deliberately collapsing a maul, and Japan collapsing a scrum, to leave Japan leading by one with eight minutes to go.
The result brings an end to Australia's five-game winning streak against les Bleus and puts France in pole position in the chase for the all-important fourth place in the world rankings ahead of the World Cup pool draw next month.
In a tale of two halves, Ireland looked on course for a famous win after leading their visitors 12-3 at half-time.
Following an early blip whereby the islanders held the upper hand, England clicked into gear to claim a seven-try win that will please Stuart Lancaster.
When Wales had possession they were guilty of forcing passes, and their high error-count merely played into Argentina's hands. The only positive note for a disjointed home team was that they were in front approaching the last quarter of the match.
Italy warmed up for the visit of two heavyweights in the coming weeks with an unconvincing win over a feisty Tongan side.