The Rugby Football Union has confirmed that England coach Andy Robinson will remain in charge for the remaining autumn Tests against South Africa.

Robinson, under sustained pressure following a record-equalling run of seven successive Test defeats, faced widespread calls for his resignation in the wake of Saturday's 25-18 Twickenham capitulation against Argentina.

But following a two-hour debrief today between himself, RFU chairman Martyn Thomas, chief executive Francis Baron, elite rugby director Rob Andrew and Club England chairman John Spencer, it was revealed that Robinson would continue, at least in the short term.

"It was an open and frank two-hour meeting where we all exchanged our views on England's performance against Argentina and recent results," said Andrew. "The Investec Challenge games are a four-Test series and Andy remains in charge for that, and we will conduct further reviews in the week following the first and second Tests against South Africa to assess England's performances and results. Andy is determined to turn England around to winning ways, and his and the squad's focus is on beating South Africa this Saturday."

Andrew did not hold back in his assessment of England's current plight, adding that "there are clear issues in terms of players having to take more responsibility. If you make those number of mistakes at international level, no matter who you are playing, then you are not going to win the game. It was poor - it was unacceptable. Andy is very disappointed and fans showed their disappointment, quite rightly.

"There will be a review about everything that has gone on over the four weeks, which is normal practice. There will be a review of the players, coaches, performances and results - you would expect that. I think we took a step back against Argentina. There were some good signs against New Zealand, some signs of progress, but that progress wasn't maintained against Argentina. Had it been maintained, I think we would have won the game, but we didn't. But it is a four-game series, and we are not going to make a knee-jerk decision halfway through the series."

England have never lost eight successive games in 135 years of international rugby, while they have now slumped to seventh in the International Rugby Board's official world rankings. They were booed off the pitch by a 74,000 crowd at Twickenham following the Argentina shambles, which produced Robinson's 12th defeat from 20 Tests in charge since he replaced the World Cup-winning Sir Clive Woodward two years ago.

The clear message to Robinson, though, is that he has two games against the Springboks to sort things out, otherwise even this season's Six Nations Championship will prove beyond his reach, let alone next year's World Cup defence.