EDDIE Jones ordered his men to ‘scalp the Springboks' after celebrating an eighth win in a row over Australia.
The head coach quickly focused his mind on avenging the World Cup defeat by South Africa after his side warmed up by seeing off the Wallabies.
A 32-15 Cook Cup triumph was completed by a last minute try from Newcastle hooker Jamie Blamire who has now scored a try in four Tests in a row, a record for an England forward.
Young Leicester fullback Freddie Steward also had good reason to remember this contest as he raced over for England's opening try – his first for his country.
Owen Farrell shrugged off a minor ankle injury to insist he will be fit and ready to play on Saturday having celebrated his 100th cap with 17 points.
But Jones says his side will need to step up a gear or two if they are to overcome the Springboks when they arrive at Twickenham on the back of victories over Wales and Scotland.
He said: “It is the last game of the autumn series and we want to go into the Six Nations with the South Africa scalp. We are delighted and excited about the prospect of facing the world champions here next and all the guys will certainly be very much up for it.
“I was delighted with the way the players stuck at it tonight and got the job done. We had to hang on but we thoroughly deserved it. Australia-England always goes down to the last 20 minutes and we felt if we play with the most consistency at the end we will get them.
Farrell: Marcus and I can get better
“We know we will have to play better against South Africa. They have a very strong defence and we will need to neutralise it. We have to take away their scrum and maul.”
On the Owen Farrell- Marcus Smith partnership, Jones said: “They are like two opening batsmen going out to play together for the first time. They will get better the more they do so.”
On Blamire, he claimed: “He has a nose for the ball. He sticks to that invisible line running up and down the field!”
On Steward: “I've not see an England full-back like him since Mike Brown. He attacks the ball and loves going forward hard with it.”
Farrell added: “We know we can be a whole lot better. I felt the partnership with Marcus was ok but it can get better.
“We have a lot of talented players out on this pitch and we are working hard to get the best out of them.”
Seward, 20, said: “Marcus was brilliant to put me through a gap and I was smiling all the way to the line! To run out in front of 80,000 here is the stuff of dreams.”
Australia had two players sin-binned and were fortunate not to have centre Tom Wright sent off for smashing Jamie George in the face with a high tackle but referee Jaco Peyper merely showed the Wallaby a yellow card. Prop Angus Bell was binned for a tip tackle on Courtney Lawes.
George could be a doubt for South Africa, going off at half-time with a knee injury after Aussie scrum half Nic White produced a try-saving tackle to deny the hooker as he tried to ground the ball.
Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie, whose team face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, said: “We are a lot better team than we put out on the park tonight. There were too many errors and couldn't build any pressure. The penalty count hurt us. There were too many soft ones. We were not clinical either when we got chances.”
