Stuart Lancaster has insisted that England remain on the right path despite having fallen to a fifth successive defeat at the hands of South Africa on Saturday.

England lost 31-28 at Twickenham, a week after going down to New Zealand by the same margin.

Lancaster has admitted that his inexperienced side have a lot to learn ahead of the 2015 World Cup, but is refusing to panic and has urged England's detractors to judge them after next year's tournament.

"We'll not panic or lose our nerve and we'll not deviate from the course we're on," Lancaster told reporters. "We've played the top two sides in the world now and that's the benchmark for us.

"We've never said we're the finished article. When we took the roles in 2012 we knew we had to take a young group of players through some tough environments. Playing New Zealand first up was always going to be tough but we're not going to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves.

"I believe in the coaches, I believe in the players and I believe in what we're doing. It hurts to lose and to lose at Twickenham but the hurt can be turned into a positive. It's about learning who can and cannot deliver in 11 months' time because that's when it really does matter."

Lancaster also hinted that the result has persuaded him to make changes for their clash with Samoa next weekend.