England clung on at Twickenham yesterday to win an “arm-wrestle” with a misfiring Springbok side to start their autumn campaign.

Smiling co-captain Dylan Hartley spoke glowingly afterwards about his side’s defence, saying: “It’s not always scoring that wins games. When we were down to 14 men, we managed that really well.”

The giant South African pack strained very sinew to bludgeon the home side’s inexperienced forwards as they camped near the English line for about five minutes in the first half.

A beleaguered England were conceding multiple penalties as they tried to keep the rampant Springboks out. 

Aussie referee Angus Gardner’s patience snapped after just 15 minutes and sent Maro Itoje to the sin-bin after the forward killed the ball near England’s try line.

But South Africa spurned several chances to kick the three points, instead opting for attacking line-outs.

Unfortunately, hooker Malcolm Marx’s throwing arm was misfiring and his overthrow allowed England to clear their lines.

England did not concede any points while Itoje was off the field and instead won their own penalty for fly-half Owen Farrell to kick the three points.

Itoje had already conceded three penalties before his yellow card and within seconds of his return committed another transgression with Gardner warning him again.

But England reached the safety of half-time just two points behind and stayed on the field for a while in a huddle.

Within minutes of the restart Elliot Daly’s monstrous penalty kick from within his own half saw England in front for the first time entirely against the run of play.

Whatever was said during the interval saw England mounting some fluid moves during a tense second half as Jonny May and Jack Nowell tested the Springboks’ defence.

A thrilling attack by the home side almost saw a lumbering Brad Shields reach the scoreline only for the ball to be knocked from his paw.

South Africa regained a two-point lead with another penalty. But fly-half Handre Pollard grazed the post with a further effort, which would have won the game.

With nine minutes on the clock co-captain Farrell kicked his side’s winning penalty.

England’s game-management was poor as Daly kicked the ball to give the Springbok’s possession at the end of the first half, instead of putting the ball out. 

Even worse was to come at the death as the clock went red but the home side failed to kill the ball. 

South Africa mounted a last ditch-assault and Farrell smashed into Andre Esterhuizen to end the match.

But the referee called for a review as the tackle looked high and more of a shoulder barge. As the crowd held its breath, Gardner and the video referee agreed the tackle was legal.

South African coach Rassie Erasmus sarcastically responded to questions about the Farrell tackle and said: “If it’s legal, it’s a really effective way of tackling and we will have to practise it.”

A bullish Eddie Jones pointed to how the Springboks had been playing together for three months, while his side were enjoying their first run-out since the summer.

“There was a lot of toughness from us. We stayed in the arm wrestle and turned the game around.

“The young players did really well and we can look forward to New Zealand.” 

But the coach said his side would have to be “unbelievably disciplined to beat the All Blacks.”

Jones’s intimated that centre Manu Tuilagi and experienced forward Courtney Lawes will be fit for next Saturday’s game against the World Champions.

What is certain is England will have to play much better and with greater discipline to have any chance against the All Blacks. Any more of Saturday’s ill-discipline will see New Zealand racking up a big win.