Care stretches the Wallabies' defence at Twickenham last weekend © Getty Images

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Players/Officials Danny Care

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Danny Care believes England manager Martin Johnson will reap the reward for keeping faith in his new boys when they take on world champions South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday.

Johnson has made just one change from the side which lost to Australia 28-14 last Saturday, bringing in James Haskell for Tom Croft at blindside flanker. Care, the Harlequins scrum-half who wins his fifth cap, said: "The great thing about the squad is that there is a massive amount of competition for places. You have to be on your mettle every game. But it's great that Martin has put the trust in us.

"If there were loads of changes I don't think we would ever gel as a squad. Sticking together is going to bring us closer and make us better. Losing an international game is heartbreaking. The frustration drives you on. It's a great motivational tool. We couldn't have asked for a better game than playing against the world champions at home to redeem how we played last week."

Johnson was critical of the way his team went "off script" against Australia, jettisoning the structure which had been laid out at England's Bagshot training headquarters. There will be stricter emphasis on a team game plan against the Springboks, but that does not mean 21-year-old Care will have to temper his unpredictability.

It is one of his greatest assets and he said: "I like to tap and go and the coaches and captain will always back you if you see something is on. They are happy that I'm having a go. They trust you. There were times when we weren't working as a 15 against Australia, when we were doing some individual stuff. But we are still learning as a team and sometimes you do go off script a bit. That is the challenge for us, to stick to the system and believe it will work.

"We're still learning the way we want to play, it was only our second game, hopefully we'll get better and better each week."

England's main requirement is to cut down on the penalty count which saw them gift 21 points to Australia for needless infringements. Care said: "We had a bit of ill-discipline last week which cost us. Also some of our basic skills weren't up to scratch. We have to massively step up this week.

"We gave away silly penalties which normally we wouldn't. The mindset now is to cut them out and we have definitely got the ability to do that. It's a dream for me to be in the side to face the world champions. I'm proud to be in this position and hopefully it will be a special day for the whole team."

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