Lucky South Africa held on in a tense finish at Loftus Stadium to defeat England 18-13 after leading 15-10 at half-time in the first of a two-Test series.
Fly-half Braam van Straaten kicked six penalty goals from eight attempts for the Springboks while winger Tim Stimpson converted his fellow wing Dan Luger's try for England and landed two penalties.
England, who held their own in a grim forward battle and displayed more adventure behind the scrum, were unlucky not to be awarded another try 13 minutes into the second half.
Stimpson, a late replacement for the sick Jonny Wilkinson with Austin Healey moving to fly-half, appeared to get a slight touch to the ball over the line, but the television referee ruled otherwise.
There was also the possibility of a penalty try as Stimpson was tackled by South African captain Andre Vos while the ball was in the air, but after consultation with the TV referee, New Zealand referee Colin Hawke awarded a five-metre scrum to South Africa for an English knock-on.
This incident was one of many that went against luckless England with captain Martin Johnson querying a host of first-half penalties awarded for infringements on the ground.
However, one of Johnson's predecessors as captain, inspirational number eight Lawrence Dallaglio, said that England had not deserved to win.
"They deserved to take the match because at this level if you don't take your chances you do not merit the victory," he gracefully admitted.
"The margin between scoring and not converting your chances is very thin and today we were not putting the points on the board that were there for the taking.
"We deserved to lose but we know now that we can beat this team and next time round we should do so if we convert the chances we had today," he added.
South Africa, who have vowed to play a more expansive game this year, were a major disappointment before a capacity 45,150 crowd on an overcast, chilly evening in the Highveld city.
They were, however, disrupted by a series of injuries that, at one stage in the first-half, left them without two of their back row and both centres.
However, only flanker Johan Erasmus was unable to return. The Springboks had little to offer when it came to flair apart from a couple of half-chances created by pint-size wing Breyton Paulse that soon fizzled out. Free State Stadium in the central city of Bloemfontein hosts the second Test on June 24 and England will entertain hope of squaring the series judged by this match.
Van Straaten kicked penalties after five and nine minutes to give the Boks a six-point advantage that was halved when Stimpson was on target with his first attempt at goal.
Another couple of successful kicks at goal by the South African fly-half had South Africa 12-3 ahead midway through a first-half that became progressively more untidy.
Erasmus was forced to retire with Corne Krige coming on and a knock on the neck led to centre Robbie Fleck being temporarily replaced by Thinus Delport.
De Wet Barry and Vos also had to leave the field for short periods before half-time. Amid all the changes, van Straaten added a fifth South African penalty before Luger rounded off sustained English pressure by diving between Barry and Joost van der Westhuizen for a try near the posts.
Hawke sent South African prop Willie Meyer and English hooker Phil Greening to the sin bin just before the end of a first half that lasted 49 minutes because of constant stoppages.
England had more than enough possession to have won the match in the second half, but a 57th-minute Stimpson penalty was the only tangible reward and when Leon Lloyd punched Barry near the end, van Straaten slotted his sixth goal.
Vos hailed his team defensive effort to keep out England in the second half.
"It was very tough up front, it was always going to be a very physical confrontation," said an exhausted Vos. "Whether we were taking the ball in or were defending, we just had to be rock solid, and we were today so hats off to the guys, they did fantastically," he added.
However, Krige, who deputised as skipper while Vos was temporarily replaced, said the Springboks would have to be more positive in the second test.
"We didn't score a try and they did. We need to go out there and attack, to keep the ball through phases as we did at the end. Next week we'll be looking at scoring a few tries", he said.
The Teams:
England: 1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Julian White, 4 Danny Grewcock, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Kyran Bracken, 10 Austin Healey, 11 Dan Luger, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Tim Stimpson, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves: Mark Regan, Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, David Flatman, Leon Lloyd
Unused: Martyn Wood, Ben Cohen
South Africa: 1 Robbie Kempson, 2 Charl Marais, 3 Willie Meyer, 4 Selborne Boome, 5 Krynauw Otto, 6 Johan Erasmus, 7 Andre Venter, 8 Andre Vos (c), 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Braam Van Straaten, 11 Breyton Paulse, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Robbie Fleck, 14 Pieter Rossouw, 15 Percy Montgomery
Reserves: Thinus Delport, Corne Krige, Ollie Le Roux, Albert Van Den Bergh, Chester Williams
Unused: John Smit, Dan Van Zyl
Referee: Hawke c.
Points Scorers:
England
Tries: Luger D.D. 1
Conv: Stimpson T.R.G. 1
Pen K.: Stimpson T.R.G. 2
South Africa
Pen K.: Van Straaten A.J.J. 6
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