Captain Fran Williams admitted England “weren’t good enough right from the start” as they lost 65-50 to South Africa in their series decider in Johannesburg.
After losing the first game, England levelled the series on Saturday to set up the winner-takes-all game on Sunday.
But in what was their final Test match before this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Jess Thirlby’s side came up against a clinical South Africa side that led throughout.
“We’re really disappointed with how we showed up today,” Williams said.
“We weren’t good enough right from the start of the game. Credit to the Proteas, they were better than us today in defence and attack and we’re going to have to go away and really look at how we showed up.”
The players will now return to their clubs for their respective 2026 domestic campaigns with the Netball Super League starting on 21 February.