"It's tough right now, it's painful" - 5 Talking Points: Steve Borthwick and Jamie George react to England's nine-point defeat to South Africa

Borthwick was flanked by his England captain Jamie George, with the duo addressing the nine-point defeat to South Africa. There is plenty of pressure riding upon the shoulders of Borthwick, with England fans beginning to grow impatient after repeatedly finishing matches on the losing side of the score-line. Borthwick shares in the frustration, and expressed how no one feels the pain of losing more than him and his England players.

STEVE BORTHWICK: "I think that it's incredibly frustrating. I feel the frustration of the players, the disappointment of the supporters. Whilst there's much to be proud of, positive about, we want to win games. We've put ourselves in a position to win the games but not convert them. These are challenging days right now, the development days for us, it's painful.

"We will work through this and we will ensure that we are a better team coming out of it.It's becoming a theme isn't it, getting yourself into a position to win the games but then falling off."

"I'm very confident with the whole management team. We have coaching, a full management team. Ultimately, we're getting in positions to win the games. There's a lot of things being done really, really well. Now, clearly we're going against teams like today. The level of experience they have and the level of experience they've seen those games out. Now, as I say, these games, it's tough right now. It's painful, but we will work through it and we will be a better team because of these painful experiences now."

STEVE BORTHWICK: "Well I think that the most impatient people are without question us that are in the team, with the team. We want the players and coaches and all management, we want everything to happen now. I think as you look at the transition of this team, if you can simply compare the two teams there, I think 15 players who were in the semi-final a year ago and they've obviously kept that team very much together.

"Our team, we had a number of players finish after the World Cup and this last year has been one of transitioning a lot of young players into this England team, which I think have an incredibly exciting future and it's transitioning the way we're trying to play also. You can see when the team moves the ball, you see just the talent that we have and the pace that we have.What I would do is make sure that we make all those moments count."

JAMIE GEORGE: "I think, like Steve elaborated too, of course we are disappointed with the results.I think we wanted to give the England fans three wins for three. Of course we did.I think if you look at the three test matches individually, I think there are definitely things that of course we needed to get better.

"You look at today, I was really proud of the team in terms of the way they fronted up physically. Test match rugby is a game of really fine margins.I think we created a lot of opportunities against a world-class team and back-to-back world champions for a reason. You speak to those guys, I was just in the changing room then and they were saying they felt really under pressure there.

"They felt the physicality of the game and I think that's a sign of a good team. What we need to do is make sure we find the fixes to closing out those games. I have every confidence and belief in the players and the staff that we will do everything that we possibly can to be a significantly better team come next week but also looking ahead to the Six Nations."

JAMIE GEORGE: "It certainly doesn't leave a leadership void.We have leaders all the way across the field.I think you look at the team that was on at the end, there was plenty of leaders in that team.I think every player, if you speak to every player, they would always want to play every moment of every game.

"The hooker jersey is an 80-minute performance across two players.I think when you've got the likes of Luke Cowan-Dickie or Theo Dan coming off the bench, then the things that they can add.I think you saw that with Luke tonight."

STEVE BORTHWICK: "I'm very confident that we are on the right path and I'm very confident that I'm working with a great group of coaches, a great group of players.I'm very confident that we will be on the trajectory that we're moving along. We want things to happen now. It's not happened now. We aim to put in a better performance next week against Japan when we're back here next Sunday."

JAMIE GEORGE: "No, look, I think, again, we are as frustrated as everyone else.I think it's important for us as players to take responsibility over the last three performances.I think when you look at it, you look at the positions that we put ourselves in across all three games and tonight, in terms of the plan that's being put out there, when we play to the plan, I think we are a very, very dangerous team.

"I think when we stray away from that, we allow teams opportunities and I think that's exactly what happened this evening. So we will be holding our hands up, we will be looking at ourselves and we're making sure that we find the fixes so that we are ready to go against Japan."