ENGLAND head coach Stuart Lancaster has no doubt his players will be fully motivated for this week’s final Test in South Africa. England’s hopes of keeping the three-match series alive were ended as they slipped to a battling 36-27 defeat in the second Test in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Springboks now have an unassailable 2-0 lead heading to Port Elizabeth for the next encounter but Lancaster feels his side will soon pick themselves up.

He said: “Our boys have had an 11-month season now – it was probably this time last year the World Cup camp started. We went through that, the World Cup, the Six Nations – it has been a long slog – but I guarantee there is one more game left in them.

“The good thing is the overriding feeling in the dressing room was frustration. I would be disappointed if the players came in and said, ‘We did a good job and almost won.’ Great sides want to win all the time and these players are hungry.

“We’ll bottle the frustration, drive it through training this week and then have a crack at it in Port Elizabeth. That is the great part of this three-game series.”

England proved their defensive resilience in the narrow 22-17 first Test loss but they were lacking in that area as the Springboks raced ahead. Backed by an intimidating crowd the hosts powered forward to take a 22-3 lead inside 19 minutes.

With the Springboks winning the forwards battle emphatically, the tourists faced a possible landslide defeat but a breakaway Toby Flood try stemmed the tide.

Two opportunistic touchdowns from scrumhalf Ben Youngs remarkably – given South Africa’s earlier superiority – saw England get back within four points but JP Pietersen ended the fightback.

Lancaster said: “We will definitely take the positives but the areas we need to develop we will have a good look at. It would help if we didn’t give them a start but we can win in Port Elizabeth.”