South Africa's Springboks completed the Southern Hemisphere hat-trick of victories over the Northern Hemisphere rugby nations when they beat England 22-17 in Durban.
South Africa's victory in Durban follows Australia's victory over Wales and New Zealand's over Ireland in the earlier matches.
The fiercely physical victory takes South Africa to eight straight victories over England which is the longest streak between the two nations.
The first half was all penalties from both sides with England scoring the first points of the match and then both sides exchanging penalty kicks for a 6-all score at half time.
Fly-half Morne Steyn and outside centre and captain Jean de Villiers scored second-half tries to set up the victory for the home side.
Steyn had an uncharacteristic poor day with his goal kicking, missing three of seven attempts, but he landed a couple of late penalties to give his team a 10-point advantage which was cut in half by a Ben Foden try in extra time.
Fly-half Owen Farrell succeeded with his four penalty shots for England, who play South Africa twice more during a three-week tour, in Johannesburg next Saturday and on June 23 in Port Elizabeth.
A number of players had to visit the blood bin with injuries and South Africa-born England inside centre Brad Barritt retired before the hour mark with a badly swollen eye.
The opening half was tight with few try-scoring chances and ended 6-6 with all the points coming via penalties with Farrell twice putting the Red Roses ahead and Steyn twice levelling.
Six Nations runners-up England impressed at the breakdown, slowing down South African ball, but were penalised several times by referee Steve Walsh for early engagement at scrums.
Farrell put England ahead on seven minutes after debutant Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth failed to roll away from the tackle and Steyn restored equality seven minutes later from his first kick at goal.
England won a vital turn-over inside their '22' when South Africa threatened to score after several breaks from scrum-half Francois Hougaard took the green and gold close to the try-line.
A superb break from No 8 Ben Morgan culiminated in a penalty for England which Farrell slotted between the posts after 27 minutes and the visitors were ahead again.
However, the advantage lasted just three minutes before leading 2011 Rugby World Cup scorer Steyn kicked his second penalty after England were caught offside.
As expected England had the upper hand at the line-outs against uncapped Etzebeth and Juandre Kruger but the Springboks did not shy away from the line out.
Steyn had a chance to put the Springboks ahead in first-half stoppage time, but easily the most difficult kick of the half from close to the touchline drifted right of the posts.
South Africa were a transformed team from the start of the second half, winning more breakdown ball, and far quicker, and by the hour mark had established a 16-6 advantage through a couple of unconverted tries.
A good midfield break by left wing Bryan Habana was followed on by De Villiers and Jannie du Plessis, and ended with Steyn selling a dummy to go over far out for a try he failed to convert.
England could not get out of their half and had a let-off when South Africa opted to run a close-range penalty that failed to yield any reward, much to the fury of a visibly tense Meyer.
But the disappointment was soon forgotten as another Habana break led to a second Springbok try with De Villiers taking a JP Pietersen pass and cutting in to dot down with Steyn once more failing to convert.
Farrell kicked two penalties within three minutes to cut the South African advantage to 16-12 before Steyn atoned for three consecutive misses by slotting a penalty.
Another Steyn penalty made the game safe at 22-12 before Foden eluded a Francois Steyn tackle to dive over in the corner for a consolation try that Farrell could not convert but it showed England will be competitive in the next two Tests.
Final Score South Africa 22 (6) England 17 (6).
Scorers
South Africa
Tries - M. Steyn, J. De Villiers
Pen - M. Steyn 4
Con -
Drop -
Cards -
England
Tries - B. Foden
Pen - O. Farrell 4
Con -
Drop -
Cards -
Match Officials
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
Teams
South Africa
15. Zane Kirchner, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Frans Steyn, 12. Jean de Villiers (c), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Morne Steyn, 9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Pierre Spies, 7. Marcell Coetzee, 6. Willem Alberts, 5. Juandre Kruger, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. Coenie Oosthuizen, 18. Flip Van Der Merwe, 19. Keegan Daniel, 20. Ruan Pienaar, 21. Pat Lambie, 22. Wynand Olivier.
England
15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi ,12 Brad Barritt, 11 Ben Foden,10 Owen Farrell ,9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt),6 Tom Johnson ,5 Geoff Parling ,4 Mouritz Botha ,3 Dan Cole ,2 Dylan Hartley,1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears 17 Paul Doran Jones 18 Tom Palmer 19 Phil Dowson 20 Lee Dickson 21 Toby Flood 22 Jonathan Joseph.
