A penalty by Handre Pollard and a brilliant finish from Cheslin Kolbe, who scored twice, tore the match away from the hosts as they failed to close the deal again.
It was déjà vu for Borthwick’s men who lost 16-15 to the Boks in last year’s World Cup semi-final in Paris.
This is crisis time for England as they lurched to a fifth defeat on the spin and a third successive reverse at Twickenham – their worst home run since 2006.
The five losses in a row is their worst sequence since 2018, when Eddie Jones was close to losing his job – and he is back in town with Japan next weekend.
If England beat Japan, it will leave their 2024 record as played 12, won five – a dismal return for a side that got to the semi-finals of the World Cup a year ago.
Yet again they fell off in the final quarter where they lost their lost four games as their discipline went AWOL and the Boks went through the gears.
But Borthwick insists he feels safe in the job and has got the full backing of his Twickenham chiefs.
The head coach said: “The feeling I get from the RFU is one of absolute support and a feeling this team is going in the right direction.
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