Second Test/South Africa - 26 Ireland - 17: The bottom line is that Ireland lost a benchmark series 2-0 and with it a chance to break into the world's elite quintet. And chances like this don't come along often. Jake White's remodelled Springboks were better than generally expected, but they were still vastly less experienced and one of the more beatable Boks sides Ireland have faced.
A chance for redemption of sorts awaits when Ireland turn hosts in their next Test, which even the players might be relieved to know is fully five months away. But even so, as Eddie O'Sullivan conceded, this was an opportunity lost.
The Irish coach made the point that for Ireland to claim such a scalp they could probably ill-afford the loss of so many of their cutting edges - Geordan Murphy as well as Gordon D'Arcy, not to mention Denis Hickie. Indeed. Imagine the damage that trio could have done in harness with Brian O'Driscoll.
Yet the flaws that left Ireland gamely playing catch-up in the the final half-hour went beyond the loss of gamebreakers and highlighted other aspects of Ireland's game that needed to be sharper.
A little taken aback by the physical ferocity the ubiquitous Schalk Burger and co brought to the breakdown in Bloemfontein, Ireland hit back harder and lower at Newlands on Saturday. The restart game was better, and while the scrum was again under pressure, the damage wasn't as severe as a week before.
Statistically, Ireland's lineout held up better, and managed to nick three Springbok throws. But the Boks launch runners off theirs - a prime example being the timing between John Smit's throw and scrumhalf Fourie du Preez peeling around the tail, as well as the back-rowers. Brilliant in Twickenham, lest we forget, and generally a model of consistency, Ireland's lineout nevertheless needs to become more dynamic.
There's no doubt that the introduction of Guy Easterby and David Humphreys before the hour mark galvanised Ireland.
An abiding impression from this tour and others is how the season's fringe players have looked so much fresher, which prompts the question as to why they weren't used more.
Easterby, by the simple expedient of having a couple of snipes himself, suddenly had the Boks' fringe defence guessing as distinct from just drifting straight on to Ronan O'Gara and even O'Driscoll at second or third receiver. That said, Joël Jutge utterly failed to police the offside line.
Peter Stringer's service has added another dimension to Ireland's back play and his covering tackles have been lifesavers so often, but his form has tapered off toward the end of this most draining of seasons and he hasn't cleared the ball away with his customary assurance.
It's still not too late for him to take on more of the box kicks and have the occasional snipe, for O'Gara's sake and Ireland's. Yet it's hard not to have sympathy for him as well. He'll never have the physical strength and pace to be a consistently potent threat. So Ireland need to be providing him with a lot more front-foot ball than he's been getting out here.
David Wallace had a fine game, his footwork and strength making hard yards out of nothing. But otherwise compare the yardage of messrs Burger, Pedrie Wannenburg and Jacques Cronje to that of the Irish back row. The Boks are bigger men, and this collision highlighted Ireland's inferior explosiveness in contact. In the last two Saturdays, du Preez and Jaco van der Westhuyzen have played far more on the front foot than the Munster halves.
With a bit more composure in their finishing, and less effective scampering defence by Ireland, the Boks might have been out of sight by the interval instead of 20-10 ahead. As it was, it still had the makings of a 50-pointer early in the second half. To their credit, Ireland dug as deep as they've had to do in a long time in genuinely threatening an epic, late smash-and-grab.
The binning of Wayne Julies augmented the Easterby-Humphreys impact effect - O'Sullivan being more proactive than usual, and making many Irish fans here wonder why he hadn't done so earlier. Humphreys had more room to work with, and used his greater pace and trickery to suddenly provide a host of new questions for the Boks defence. His deft grubber straight off a lineout for O'Driscoll's try utterly flummoxed the Boks. And his sensational sidestep in linking with O'Driscoll off Marcus Horan's tap penalty 10 minutes from the end offered the thrilling possibility of a one-point lead. Until, that is, Tyrone Howe got the ball 30 metres out. Hickie or Murphy would surely have scored.
Being the home side, the Boks would probably have got a late penalty kick to win the game anyway. There's no shame in losing to them on their own soil, all the more so given they were the vastly fresher force. Next week Wales, after their excellent win in Argentina, might put Ireland's efforts in a clearer context.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 7 mins: Howe try, O'Gara con 0-7; 16: Montgomery pen 3-7; 20: Paulse try, Montgomery con 10-7; 27: Montgomery pen 13-7; 39: Fourie try, Montgomery con 20-7; 40: O'Gara drop goal 20-10 (half-time 20-10); 52: Montgomery pen 23-10; 63: O'Driscoll try, Humphreys con 23-17; 82: Montgomery pen 26-17.
SOUTH AFRICA: P Montgomery (Newport Gwent Dragons); B Paulse (Stormers), M Joubert (Stormers), W Julies (Cats), J Fourie (Cats); J van der Westhuyzen (Leicester), F du Preez (Bulls); O du Randt (Cats), J Smit (Sharks, capt), E Andrews (Stormers), Q Davids (Stormers), V Matfield (Bulls), S Burger (Stormers), P Wannenburg (Bulls), J Cronje (Bulls). Replacements: B Russell (Sharks) for Joubert (30-40 mins) and for Fourie (half-time), CJ van der Linde (Cats) for Andrews (47 mins), G Britz (Cats) for Wannenburg (68 mins), G Cronje (Sharks) for Davids (72 mins). Sin-binned: Julies (59 mins).
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster, Terenure College); S Horgan (Leinster, Lansdowne), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, Blackrock College, capt), K Maggs (Bath), T Howe (Ulster, Dungannon); R O'Gara (Munster, Cork Constitution), P Stringer (Munster, Shannon); R Corrigan (Leinster, Greystones), S Byrne (Leinster, Blackrock College), J Hayes (Munster, Shannon), M O'Kelly (Leinster, St Mary's College), P O'Connell (Munster, Young Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster, Garryowen), A Foley (Munster, Shannon). Replacements: G Duffy (Harlequins) for Dempsey (20 mins), G Easterby (Rotherham) for Stringer, D Humphreys (Ulster, Dungannon) for O'Gara (both 57 mins), M Horan (Munster, Shannon) for Foley (42-46 mins) and for Corrigan (61 mins), D O'Callaghan (Munster, Cork Constitution) for O'Kelly (75 mins), A Quinlan (Munster, Shannon) for S Easterby (63 mins). Sin-binned: Corrigan (37 mins).
Referee: Joël Jutge (France).
