Toby Flood earned his 50th international cap while Thomas Waldrom made his first start for the Red Rose as England ended their tour to South Africa with a hard-fought 14-14 draw in the third and final Test in Port Elizabeth.
There were also starts for Tigers team-mates Dan Cole, Geoff Parling and Manu Tuilagi.
Flood’s first-minute penalty gave England a 3-0 lead, but the fly-half picked up an early knock and was replaced in the 12th minute by Owen Farrell.
At that stage Danny Care had already crossed for England with a quick tap penalty to put the visitors 8-3
ahead. Morne Steyn with the South Africa penalty in reply.
Steyn landed two more penalties to give the Springboks a 9-8 half-time lead.
Farrell kicked England back into the lead shortly after the restart before wing JP Pietersen scored South Africa’s try just after the hour mark to put the hosts 14-11 ahead.
And with nine minutes remaining, Farrell’s second penalty of the contest drew England level and ensured Stuart Lancaster’s men avoided a 3-0 series defeat.
Martin Castrogiovanni captained Italy to a 30-10 victory over USA in Houston, Texas.
Carlo Festuccia, Edoardo Gori and Kristopher Burton scored the Italy tries, while Paul Emerick scored the only try for America before he was sent off in the second half for an illegal tackle. Andrew Suniula also saw red for the hosts, who played with 13 men for the final 23 minutes in front of a 17,214 crowd - a record for an international rugby match on American soil.
Logovi’i Mulipola suffered a 17-16 defeat with Samoa at the hands of Scotland at Apia Park. Mulipola came off the bench for the last 23 minutes of the game but could not prevent a dramatic win for the Scots through Rob Harley’s late converted try.
Fly-half Tusi Pisi scored all Samoa's points, kicking a drop-goal, two penalties and converting his own try. Scotland’s points came through Joe Ansbro’s try, converted by Greig Laidlaw, who also kicked a penalty before his late conversion of Harley’s try secured victory.
Steve Mafi’s Tonga lost 29-17 to Fiji in the final fixture of this season’s Pacific Nations Cup. Tonga, who had Mafi playing in the back row, led 9-7 at the break through three Kurt Morath penalties. But three second-half tries sealed the win for Fiji, who finished second to Samoa in the league standings. Tonga finished third and Japan fourth.
