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London - South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said his team had laid down a marker for next year's World Cup after outclassing England at Twickenham in a 21-11 victory.
The Springboks, who had suffered a shock loss to Scotland a week earlier, produced their best performance of the European tour to halt England's nascent resurgence in its tracks.
The hard-fought win followed a disastrous Tri-Nations campaign but de Villiers said that with several key players still to return from injury, South Africa will be a force come the 2011 World Cup.
"It's a big win for the country, it's a big win for the team," de Villiers said. "It was important to put a marker down for next year."
South Africa captain Victor Matfield meanwhile said he hoped the result could be the springboard for a successful World Cup.
"When we beat England here in 2006 we turned things around and won the World Cup the following year, so hopefully this is an omen," Matfield said.
The Springbok lock was happy at the way his team had asserted their physical superiority in a bruising win, revealing he had suffered a suspected broken rib in a collision with England wing Chris Ashton.
"There's a lot of bruises on their side and our side. My rib has gone. It was a hard game. We were talking about accuracy and I think it was there tonight. There was patience.
"We're very happy with the way we played and hopefully we can take that confidence into next year which is a big year for the World Cup.
"There was a lot spoken this week in the media about our scrum and our physicality. I think the guys stood up and showed what they can do. And that's what the Springboks is all about."
Matfield said the South Africans had also atoned for their shock upset against Scotland, a result which denied his team the opportunity of completing a Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland.
"I think the guys were very diappointed with the loss last week and especially the way we played," he said.
"Today we got a nice dry pitch and we were able to play some rugby. The guys were hurt after last weekend and they showed the character and the pride in the Springbok jersey the way they came back tonight."
