England 0, South Africa 36

England stand one defeat away from a potentially-humiliating World Cup exit after they were smashed 36-0 by South Africa at Stade de France.

The reigning world champions must beat Samoa in Nantes a week today to have any realistic chance of staying alive after the Springboks dealt them their record World Cup defeat.

It was also the first time since 1998 that England failed to score in a Test match.

And on current evidence, they will struggle to beat Samoa, so far have England fallen during the past four years.

The Webb Ellis Trophy holders were swept aside as Pool A rivals South Africa took charge through first-half tries from flanker Juan Smith and wing JP Pietersen.

Pietersen added his second try after the break, while full-back Percy Montgomery slotted 18 points from the boot and centre Francois Steyn also landed a penalty.

In World Cup terms, it eclipsed England's previous record loss - 44-21 against South Africa - in the same stadium eight years ago.

England captain Martin Corry said: ''First of all, the lads are shell-shocked. We have to dress ourselves down, give ourselves 24 hours and start focusing on Samoa.

''We gifted South Africa pretty much 20 points, and they didn't have to work hard for those points. We then found ourselves playing catch-up rugby against one of the best sides in the world.

''We are not going to hit the self-destruct button. We will analyse this performance. After 24 or 48 hours, it is all about Samoa.

''We are a side playing under our full potential. We have got to keep striving to produce a performance we know we are capable of.''

England's latest dismal display followed a stuttering 28-10 success against the USA last weekend, but England head coach Brian Ashton added: ''I won't accept this was a worse performance than against America last week.

''South Africa are probably one of the top two sides in world rugby. They played extremely well for the full 80 minutes.

''We didn't help ourselves in the first half of the game.

''There is going to have to be a big performance next Saturday, end of story, otherwise we are going to be on our way home.

''I don't want to talk about individual players. The defeat was largely down to the way South Africa played - they were incredibly efficient in everything they did,

''The whole context of the game was totally different to last weekend.

''In terms of performance, we played better in some areas. If we had played like that last week, we would have scored 80 points.''

After losing fly-halves Jonny Wilkinson and Olly Barkley to injuries, while skipper Phil Vickery missed out through suspension, England could not respond from such a sense of disarray.

And there were further injury problems as full-back Jason Robinson (hamstring) and centre Jamie Noon (knee) failed to last the distance. Robinson's playing days could now be over, as he has already ended his club days.

Ashton now has a huge task on his hands to lift morale for the Samoa encounter, and there were boos from England's support as their team trudged off.

No Rugby World Cup holder has ever gone out in the pool stage, yet that is the ignominy England now face unless they can drastically get their act together.

South Africa though, have no such problems, and they appear well on course to contest the tournament's business end alongside New Zealand and Australia.

England's road since they won the 2003 World Cup has been a rocky one, and there was a sense of inevitability about the way South Africa ruthlessly took them apart.

England are no longer at the top table of world rugby, and the psychological scars of this crushing defeat will surely take a long time to heal.

Springboks coach Jake White said: ''We are obviously delighted. We had lost Schalk Burger (suspended) and Jean de Villiers (injured), so to get a result like that was obviously pleasing.

''This is one of the biggest victories we've had as a group of people.

''When the (World Cup) draw was made, we always knew this would be a tough game for us.''