By Matt Dawson England scrum-half

What a game that was. It would have been a cracking match to be involved in and I was really sorry to miss out.

It was very, very tight. South Africa made it very difficult and the boys were very frustrated with the way they played in the first half.

For 50 or so minutes there were just too many errors that one would not normally associate with the England team.

What was so frustrating was that we did all the things we said we wouldn't do.

Jason Robinson feels the full force of De Wet Barry's tackle

But it says a lot for our defence in the way we held out. We soaked up the pressure very well, and then all of a sudden we really clicked into gear.

The two penalties from Jonny Wilkinson gave us a bit of a boost and then we started to play a bit of territory.

Everything changed when Will Greenwood got that try, and what a great effort that was. It was a fantastic charge down by Lewis Moody and Will followed up brilliantly.

That was the turning point of the game. We shut up shop really after that, and Jonny hit the corners.

But there was a bit of a sweat in that first period. It was awful watching it.

South Africa could have been well ahead by the interval, and the boys knew they were on the back foot.

The Boks got away with a lot of slowing the ball down at the rucks, but that's what big Test matches are about.

It was a very physical game but we expected that. But it was also a bit messy, and they undoubtedly put us under more pressure than we did them.

As a collective effort you couldn't really get much better

But credit to the England boys, they soaked everything up with last-gasp tackles. One in particular was brilliant when Jason Robinson took out Bakkies Botha at the corner.

It was a real bonus for us to keep them out. I think most people would have expected us to leak one or two tries, but our defence was tremendous.

Everyone knew this game was going to decide a number of things for the rest of the tournament. It wasn't surprising there were a lot of nerves out there.

I could see people doing things they don't usually do. Neil Back going for a dropped goal - I ask you!

Report: England 25-6 South Africa

But if there was a game that showed this England team had character, this was it.

There were a lot of big performances, but nobody really stood out, there were no stars.

As a collective effort though you couldn't really get much better.

Now I want to get a game to prove myself after having to pull out earlier this week.

Everything was going fine with the injury, but the decision not to play in this match was proved right because of the level of physicality.

It is never good to lose your spot, and with Kyran Bracken playing well, I will have to be fully fit to regain it.